ANITA O'DAY: THE LIFE OF A JAZZ SINGER (2007)

Biographical study of one of the greatest of American jazz divas, Anita O'Day, who died in 2006 at the age of 87. This story of bop vocalist O'Day's long and sometimes troubled career, which attained a high water mark with her riveting performance of Sweet Georgia Brown in the classic Jazz on a Summer's Day film at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958, is full of typically candid interviews with O'Day herself and tracks her career from classic performances in the 50s with such artists as Louis Armstrong, Gene Krupa and Hoagy Carmichael to her last album recorded at the age of 84. She speaks openly about how she battled with her addictions to heroin and alcohol and how her singing career came before her personal happiness. Interviewees include Dick Clark, Annie Ross and Johnny Mandel. (01:27:00)