Billie’s Blues

My father’s birth name was James Brown. Changing his surname was his expression of solidarity with Billie Holiday, and mandatory if he wanted to make it as a soul singer in the era of “The Payback”: there could be no duplicate James Brown. She wore her stage name like skin; identities can change, even after death. The goal, if we love her enough to live in her name, as I do by inheritance or luck, is to make sure we don’t collude with those who would make her a relic of entertainment, an idea or a set of…