Lady Sings the Blues
“Diana Ross is Billie Holiday. Diana Ross sings Billie Holiday. And a superstar is born.”
Chronicles the rise and fall of legendary blues singer Billie Holiday, beginning with her traumatic youth. The story depicts her early attempts at a singing career and her eventual rise to stardom, as well as her difficult relationship with Louis McKay, her boyfriend and manager. Casting a shadow over even Holiday's brightest moments is the vocalist's severe drug addiction, which threatens to end both her career and her life.
Genres
Drama, Music
Studio
Weston Productions
Language
fr
Status
Released
How Lady Sings the Blues performed
Budget
$2.0M
Worldwide Gross
$19.7M
Gross Profit
$17.7M
Return
9.9× budget
Opening Wknd (est.)
$3M
Source: TMDB. Domestic/international split (~48/52, genre-typical) and the opening-weekend figure (30% of the domestic run, typical for Drama) are MoviesRankd estimates. Profit is gross revenue minus production budget and excludes marketing — studios typically need ~2–2.5× budget to break even.
Cast
Billie Holiday
Diana Ross
Billie Holiday
Louis McKay
Billy Dee Williams
Louis McKay
Piano Man
Richard Pryor
Piano Man
Reg Hanley
James T. Callahan
Reg Hanley
Harry
Paul Hampton
Harry
Jerry
Sid Melton
Jerry
Mama Holiday
Virginia Capers
Mama Holiday
Yvonne
Yvonne Fair
Yvonne
The Madame
Isabel Sanford
The Madame
The Prostitute
Tracee Lyles
The Prostitute
The Agent
Ned Glass
The Agent
The Doctor
Milton Selzer
The Doctor
If you liked Lady Sings the Blues
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1991
The United States vs. Billie Holiday
2021
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2004
Hounddog
2008
Get Rich or Die Tryin'
2005
Rocketman
2019