29c Billie Holiday single

Depicts

Billie Holiday, American, 1915 - 1959

Description

Jazz and blues legends were honored with the eight 29-cent stamps in Legends of American Music Stamp Series issued on September 17, 1994, in Greenville, Mississippi, at the Delta Blues Festival. The stamps feature Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Jimmy Rushing, Mildred Bailey, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, "Ma" Rainey, and Howlin' Wolf.

Billie Holiday (1915-1959), born Eleanora Fagan, had an art for graceful phrasing and a distinctively light timbre that enabled her to render popular tunes dealing with heartbreak and despair with a buoyancy that rose above the heavy sentimentality of the words. Holiday's solo hits such as "God Bless the Child" and "Strange Fruit" became standard tunes for many generations of singers to follow.

Howard Koslow designed the images for Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Jimmy Rushing, Mildred Bailey, and Julian Allen designed the images for Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, "Ma" Rainey, and Howlin' Wolf. Ashton-Potter (USA), Ltd., printed The stamps using offset lithography.

Reference:

Postal Bulletin (September 1, 1994).

mint

11 horizontal perforations x 10.8 vertical perforations

Credit line

Copyright United States Postal Service. All rights reserved.

September 17, 1994

Object number

1995.2075.51

Type

Postage Stamps

Medium

paper; ink (multicolored); adhesive / lithography

Place

United States of America

Title

Scott Catalogue USA 2856

National Postal Museum

Topic

Music & Musicians

Black Heritage

Contemporary (1990-present)

Women's Heritage

U.S. Stamps

Record ID

npm_1995.2075.51

Usage of Metadata (Object Detail Text)

Not determined

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/hm88c755769-02fb-4d77-88d8-4fb8b77c2c2a