0:00:02 > 0:00:05# Good morning, heartache
0:00:05 > 0:00:08# You old gloomy sight... #
0:00:08 > 0:00:13They have voices that make you weep, songs of heartbreak and betrayal,
0:00:13 > 0:00:20lives that seem to mirror their music and deaths that came too soon and made myths of them all.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23Yet their voices triumph over tragedy.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26# Take another little piece of my heart... #
0:00:26 > 0:00:29They are icons of the 20th century.
0:00:29 > 0:00:30Queens of heartache.
0:00:30 > 0:00:35# Take another little bit of my heart, yeah, yeah, yeah... #
0:00:35 > 0:00:39Janis Joplin, the wild queen.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42She was joy-bringer
0:00:42 > 0:00:45and ecstasy, although, you know, she sang about doom.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48# Somewhere over... #
0:00:48 > 0:00:50Judy Garland, the showbiz queen.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52She had a lot of yearning in her voice.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56She was always striving for happiness and never could seem to find it.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03Maria Callas, drama queen.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07I think her life was at times as tragic as the roles she played.
0:01:07 > 0:01:11You could absolutely hear the heartache in her voice.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15# God bless the child that's got his own... #
0:01:15 > 0:01:17Billie Holiday, troubled queen.
0:01:17 > 0:01:19There is a pining, that yearning.
0:01:19 > 0:01:25Every word she says make you go like "Ah, if I can only give it to you.
0:01:25 > 0:01:26"What is it you want?"
0:01:26 > 0:01:30APPLAUSE
0:01:30 > 0:01:34And Edith Piaf, the urchin queen.
0:01:34 > 0:01:38Alone in the spotlight she stood small but strong,
0:01:38 > 0:01:43# Non! Rien de rien... #
0:01:43 > 0:01:48She became both the voice of her nation and of everyone who's ever made a mistake.
0:01:51 > 0:01:52It was only feeling.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55Only emotion. Only truth.
0:01:55 > 0:02:00# Ni le mal tout ca m'est bien egal!
0:02:00 > 0:02:05# Non! Rien de rien... #
0:02:05 > 0:02:09I remember exactly where I was when I first heard her.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13I just thought she had such a stunning voice, very rich.
0:02:13 > 0:02:15And there was a pure emotion in her singing.
0:02:15 > 0:02:21# ..oublie, je me fous du passe... #
0:02:21 > 0:02:26Those who have seen Piaf on stage, they have never forgotten that.
0:02:26 > 0:02:32She was touching the public and she wanted to touch the public.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35# Non! Rien de rien... #
0:02:35 > 0:02:38TRANSLATION: It was instinctive, it was in her.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42It came from her heart, all of her.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44# Car ma vie
0:02:44 > 0:02:47# Car me joies
0:02:47 > 0:02:49# Aujourd'hui
0:02:49 > 0:02:55# Ca commence avec toi.. #
0:02:55 > 0:02:58APPLAUSE
0:03:00 > 0:03:04Edith Piaf was born in a poor part of Paris during the First World War.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07She's said to have been born on these steps.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12Her mother abandoned her when she was little.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15TRANSLATION: She had a lot of talent too.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18She had a magnificent voice, apparently, but all the vices.
0:03:18 > 0:03:23She died of drugs, an overdose.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26Edith then lived with her grandparents in a brothel
0:03:26 > 0:03:30till she joined her father, an acrobat and street singer.
0:03:30 > 0:03:37She never went to school, but started making money singing with him.
0:03:37 > 0:03:39# ..On s'en fout
0:03:39 > 0:03:41# Nul ne s'y accroche... #
0:03:41 > 0:03:46At 17, she had a baby girl, who died aged two.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50TRANSLATION: It was a mistake of youth.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55A good song if it is written well makes you feel that emotion,
0:03:55 > 0:03:57A good song if it is written well makes you feel that emotion,
0:03:57 > 0:04:00even if you haven't been in that specific situation.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03Someone who really has gone through the hardships
0:04:03 > 0:04:06like Edith Piaf, she's really singing from the heart.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09# Je revoie la ville en fete et en elire
0:04:09 > 0:04:12# Suffoquant sous le soleil et sous la joie... #
0:04:12 > 0:04:16Edith was 19 when she was discovered singing on a street corner.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20Her career on the music hall stage took off.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23Her fame as a singer grew in occupied France.
0:04:25 > 0:04:30Later she would become a symbol of French survival if not active resistance -
0:04:30 > 0:04:31the voice of the people.
0:04:31 > 0:04:36TRANSLATION: She was a symbol of the strength of a country.
0:04:36 > 0:04:42She was the soul of her people called France.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44# C'est merveilleux
0:04:44 > 0:04:47# La vie peinte en bleu
0:04:47 > 0:04:50# Un grand coup de soleil... #
0:04:50 > 0:04:56In films, she usually played herself, an urchin who becomes a star.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00Straight after the war she had an affair with Yves Montand.
0:05:01 > 0:05:05Her fame was spreading round the world.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11Charles Aznavour lived in her very Bohemian house.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14It was a crazy house. Not too much furnitures,
0:05:14 > 0:05:17good cook -
0:05:17 > 0:05:21important, and crazy moments.
0:05:21 > 0:05:26You have to realise it was not a long time after the war
0:05:26 > 0:05:29and we used to enjoy freedom.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31We were thinking about songs and music
0:05:31 > 0:05:37and going around Paris night clubs till three or four in the morning.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41# Quand il me prend dans ses bras
0:05:41 > 0:05:44# Il me parle tout bas
0:05:44 > 0:05:48# Je vois la vie en rose... #
0:05:48 > 0:05:51She had a great appetite for everything.
0:05:51 > 0:05:52She was what we call in French a 'monstre sacre', a sacred monster.
0:05:52 > 0:05:56She was what we call in French a 'monstre sacre', a sacred monster.
0:05:59 > 0:06:00It's a compliment.
0:06:00 > 0:06:05She used to eat like a monster, love like a monster and drink like a monster.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09She was what we call bigger than life.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11She was really bigger than life.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15On stage she was mesmerising.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19If you've ever sung on the street, you gain a very particular sort
0:06:19 > 0:06:21of knowledge which is about grabbing people.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24It's about getting them right in.
0:06:24 > 0:06:25She had that.
0:06:27 > 0:06:32She carries that absolutely into her concert career.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35# Quand y reviendra de la guerre
0:06:35 > 0:06:37# Ils prendront une maison
0:06:37 > 0:06:42# Elle sera la caissiere Et lui, sera le patron... #
0:06:42 > 0:06:46TRANSLATION: Basically she made love to the public.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50She made love with songs. She always believed in a song.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53It wasn't just music, it meant something.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55# ..la java Qu'elle fredonne tout bas
0:06:55 > 0:06:58# Elle revoit son accordeoniste
0:06:58 > 0:07:00# Et ses yeux amoureux
0:07:00 > 0:07:02# Suivent le jeu nerveux
0:07:02 > 0:07:05# Et les doigts secs et longs de l'artiste... #
0:07:05 > 0:07:06Even when she's singing something which is about
0:07:07 > 0:07:07Even when she's singing something which is about
0:07:07 > 0:07:08how dreadful life can be, there's a strength and resilience in her...
0:07:09 > 0:07:13how dreadful life can be, there's a strength and resilience in her...
0:07:13 > 0:07:16all the time.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19# Arretez la musique! #
0:07:19 > 0:07:22She believed, she felt it was real.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26But it was also an act.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28She knew what worked.
0:07:29 > 0:07:35She found out very fast that her way was the tragic songs.
0:07:35 > 0:07:42She used to say you have to find me something, a new death, a new way to die.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50TRANSLATION: She was very perfectionist, very professional.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55It was me doing the lights. The dark was very important to her.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02It had to be timed just right,
0:08:02 > 0:08:06so that it coincided precisely with a gesture or a note.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13She used to have one gesture a song, not two.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16But that gesture was the right one.
0:08:16 > 0:08:21# ..Foule qui nous traine, nous entraine
0:08:21 > 0:08:23# Et nous eloigne
0:08:23 > 0:08:27# L'un de l'autre je lutte et je me debats... #
0:08:27 > 0:08:30Once, Piaf went on stage drunk and was booed off.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33The public was against her.
0:08:33 > 0:08:39She sang two hours and she came out with a standing ovation.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42And I had that...
0:08:42 > 0:08:46Means you know I made it.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51As with the audience, so with her loves.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54Aznavour remembers introducing her to one.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57She turned to me and...
0:08:57 > 0:08:59I knew...
0:08:59 > 0:09:02she was in love, already.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08It never lasted long, about two years.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12It was always before a new opening in Paris,
0:09:12 > 0:09:14but she was sincere.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18Each time she was totally sincere.
0:09:20 > 0:09:26The older she got, the younger they got, like Georges Moustakis, 18 years her junior.
0:09:26 > 0:09:27The older she got, the younger they got, like Georges Moustakis, 18 years her junior.
0:09:27 > 0:09:32The way I felt her was somebody very completely free.
0:09:32 > 0:09:34She didn't care about nothing.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38If she wanted something, if she believed in something,
0:09:38 > 0:09:42she would do it like an adolescent.
0:09:43 > 0:09:48She was passionate in every second of her life.
0:09:53 > 0:09:59People were saying her days on stage were numbered.
0:09:59 > 0:10:06She was ill and exhausted from a lifetime of excesses, performing, drinking, car crashes, morphine.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09Charles Dumont had written a song for her.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14TRANSLATION: She didn't want to see Charles Dumont, she hated him.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18He'd sent other songs she didn't like at all.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22One day, reluctantly, she let him in.
0:10:22 > 0:10:24TRANSLATION: I was in a rage.
0:10:24 > 0:10:29I hit the piano hard shouting, "No, nothing, nothing." I regret nothing.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32And she said, "Young man,
0:10:32 > 0:10:39"you've made a song there that will be heard all over the world."
0:10:41 > 0:10:45# Non! Rien de rien
0:10:45 > 0:10:50# Non! Je ne regrette rien
0:10:50 > 0:10:54# Ni le bien qu'on m'a fait... #
0:10:54 > 0:10:56There's a sense of triumph.
0:10:56 > 0:11:01She's like a phoenix coming out of the ashes in that song. I just love it.
0:11:07 > 0:11:12TRANSLATION: When she said those words 'I regret nothing,'
0:11:12 > 0:11:16she summed up her life because she was a completely straight woman.
0:11:19 > 0:11:20She was a block of granite.
0:11:26 > 0:11:31In 1962, she married one of her boys and a year later, she died.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34She was only 47.
0:11:34 > 0:11:36Love was not her big subject.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39It was her reason of living.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44She was...
0:11:44 > 0:11:45something quite extraordinary
0:11:45 > 0:11:45something quite extraordinary
0:11:46 > 0:11:47something quite extraordinary
0:11:47 > 0:11:50and we have never replaced Piaf.
0:11:52 > 0:11:56Piaf's exultant energy brought vast crowds to their feet.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02But in the USA, a cooler queen was born in the same year as Piaf.
0:12:02 > 0:12:08Where one became the voice of liberated France, the other was defiant but never triumphant.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11I give you, Billie Holiday.
0:12:11 > 0:12:11I give you, Billie Holiday.
0:12:14 > 0:12:19The trouble queen was more melancholy, altogether more intimate.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21# My man don't love me
0:12:21 > 0:12:24# He treats me oh so mean... #
0:12:24 > 0:12:26You can't sound like that
0:12:26 > 0:12:29without having gone through something.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31I really believe that.
0:12:31 > 0:12:37# My man don't love me, he treats me awful mean
0:12:37 > 0:12:39# It was a growl
0:12:39 > 0:12:41# It was haunting.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44# He's the lowest man
0:12:44 > 0:12:49# That I've ever seen... #
0:12:51 > 0:12:55You always knew that it was Lady.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59Lady sang with authority and emotion.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02# Love is just like a faucet... #
0:13:02 > 0:13:02It was really something from another world.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04It was really something from another world.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11It's like being confided in by someone.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14# Love is just like a faucet... #
0:13:14 > 0:13:20She did say to me whatever you do when you sing, tell the truth.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23Tell the truth, speak the truth.
0:13:23 > 0:13:27# Some times when you think it's on, baby
0:13:27 > 0:13:33# It has turned off and gone... #
0:13:36 > 0:13:40# Them that's got, shall get
0:13:40 > 0:13:44# Them that's not, shall lose... #
0:13:44 > 0:13:50Billie 's mother was an occasional prostitute, her father a musician who drifted in and out of her life.
0:13:50 > 0:13:51Her dad was 17 when she was born.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53Her dad was 17 when she was born.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57She had no money, no security,
0:13:57 > 0:14:01molested early in life, sexually exploited.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04It's amazing she survived.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07# God bless the child that's got his own... #
0:14:07 > 0:14:10She sang like she'd been through the mill...
0:14:12 > 0:14:14..and she had in many ways.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20I think she never really got to experience a childhood.
0:14:20 > 0:14:21There seemed to be a yearning that never got fulfilled.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25There seemed to be a yearning that never got fulfilled.
0:14:25 > 0:14:30When you're a performer at least you have a way to release that.
0:14:30 > 0:14:35# Please keep me in your dreams
0:14:35 > 0:14:38# In your sweet dreams, let me... #
0:14:38 > 0:14:43And Billie became a performer, starting off in small bars and clubs in Harlem.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45She used to be a waitress and sing for tips.
0:14:45 > 0:14:50So I guess a lot of her voice was kind of directed to the people just in front of her.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53It feels like she's singing just to you.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56# Please keep me in your dreams... #
0:14:56 > 0:15:01As soon as she started singing in clubs she didn't like doing something the same way.
0:15:01 > 0:15:08She has this elastic timing where she'll go either side of the beat.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15Utterly made her Billie Holiday right from the start.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19# You don't have to have a hanker to be a broker or banker... #
0:15:19 > 0:15:21Jazz musicians loved her.
0:15:21 > 0:15:25She played a victim in a jazz film and toured with a white band.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28It wasn't easy on the road for a black singer.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31They were selling her records, her name was on the marquee but
0:15:31 > 0:15:35she had to enter through the back of the hotel because they wouldn't let her come through the front.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38# She sets the world on fire
0:15:38 > 0:15:40# Just wished she'd make it proper
0:15:40 > 0:15:43# To call my old man, Papa... #
0:15:43 > 0:15:45She didn't take it lying down.
0:15:45 > 0:15:51Once a sailor came into a bar she was in and asked the bartender when he started serving nigger bitches.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55She smashed his face with her glass.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59Her reputation was what they call 'a salty broad.'
0:15:59 > 0:16:02She would tell you in a minute
0:16:02 > 0:16:04what she thought about this, that or the other.
0:16:04 > 0:16:05# Southern trees
0:16:05 > 0:16:09# Southern trees
0:16:09 > 0:16:14# Bear strange fruit... #
0:16:14 > 0:16:18In 1939 she recorded a song that changed her career.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20# Blood on the leaves
0:16:21 > 0:16:25# And blood at the root... #
0:16:25 > 0:16:27That was deeply personal...
0:16:27 > 0:16:29# Black bodies swinging... #
0:16:29 > 0:16:33..because it was her race, her people that this had been done to.
0:16:33 > 0:16:38It was such a graphic, graphic song.
0:16:38 > 0:16:43# ..from love poplar trees. #
0:16:43 > 0:16:47It was 20 years before the civil rights movement.
0:16:47 > 0:16:54The fact that she has the bravery to sing a song about people being tortured and killed is
0:16:54 > 0:16:55just incredible.
0:16:55 > 0:17:00It made her a public figure in a way other
0:17:00 > 0:17:04singers weren't, popular with white liberals as well as other blacks.
0:17:06 > 0:17:11# Cry... #
0:17:11 > 0:17:13And a target for the police.
0:17:14 > 0:17:19She had problems with the police cos they were after her all the time.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22They tried to find her using drugs.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24Every city she went to, the first thing they did was,
0:17:24 > 0:17:27the police would come in and search her room.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32In 1947 they got her.
0:17:32 > 0:17:34She was jailed for eight months.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36As a child she'd been in prison.
0:17:36 > 0:17:38She never escaped her past.
0:17:38 > 0:17:42She had been groomed for drugdom
0:17:42 > 0:17:45from the time she was very young.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50Of course she was a pimp's dream.
0:17:50 > 0:17:52She was making money,
0:17:52 > 0:17:54she was an icon...
0:17:56 > 0:18:00They got a hold of her and they turned her on to heroin.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08She didn't choose the greatest company, but there you go.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16A criminal conviction meant she couldn't play in clubs in New York.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20But there was no law against playing the prestigious Carnegie Hall.
0:18:20 > 0:18:26People loved it so much so we had to repeat that concert a few weeks later.
0:18:26 > 0:18:30And at that time there were people seated on the stage.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33I had to lift my bass up over the crowd.
0:18:33 > 0:18:38Billie had triumphed, but getting work wasn't the only problem...
0:18:40 > 0:18:43# It cost me a lot
0:18:43 > 0:18:46# But there's one thing that I've got
0:18:46 > 0:18:48# It's my man... #
0:18:48 > 0:18:51The men she hung around with took what she did earn.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55And they were violent, like one of her boyfriends and managers.
0:18:55 > 0:19:00He was a pimp and a hustler and that was his trade.
0:19:02 > 0:19:10They'd have a fight before the show and we had to tape up her ribs cos she was having trouble breathing.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12# He isn't true
0:19:14 > 0:19:17# He beats me too... #
0:19:17 > 0:19:20We went ahead and played the job that night and that was it.
0:19:20 > 0:19:25# What can I do? #
0:19:25 > 0:19:29Punches, beatings,
0:19:29 > 0:19:33these guys would hit you over the head with a bottle.
0:19:35 > 0:19:37I knew that Lady...
0:19:37 > 0:19:40liked ladies...
0:19:40 > 0:19:43Of course she would have been better off.
0:19:43 > 0:19:47# Hush now, don't explain... #
0:19:47 > 0:19:51Billie had affairs with women and men and married three times.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54# Just say you'll remain... #
0:19:54 > 0:19:58It was a constant search for a father figure.
0:19:58 > 0:19:59It was a constant search for a father figure.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03To be loved and protected and looked after, it was a constant search.
0:20:03 > 0:20:08# You're my joy and pain... #
0:20:08 > 0:20:11She brought a world weariness and poignancy to jazz singing.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14# Skip that
0:20:14 > 0:20:19# Lipstick, don't explain. #
0:20:19 > 0:20:23When she sang you knew exactly what the song was about,
0:20:23 > 0:20:26what the music was about and what she was about.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30# You know that I love you
0:20:30 > 0:20:33# And what love endures
0:20:33 > 0:20:36# All my thoughts of you... #
0:20:36 > 0:20:41She read a lyric like she lived it and some instances it was exactly like she lived it.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44# Cry to hear folks chatter... #
0:20:44 > 0:20:50It was just very calm and relating the lyric in such a way that
0:20:50 > 0:20:53you felt a part of it.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55# ..when you're with me, sweet. #
0:20:57 > 0:21:01One thing Lady always wanted and never had was a child.
0:21:01 > 0:21:03Luckily, one of her ladies did.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07Holiday was like another mother to me.
0:21:07 > 0:21:12Almost the instant I was born my mom said that Holiday took me and proceeded to breast feed me
0:21:12 > 0:21:15Almost the instant I was born my mom said that Holiday took me and proceeded to breast feed me
0:21:15 > 0:21:18even though she had no milk
0:21:18 > 0:21:23and so she made up for that by smoking a copious amount of marijuana
0:21:23 > 0:21:28and as a result I ate a lot and slept a lot.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31I could hear them laughing and smoking.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36She loved a good time
0:21:36 > 0:21:38and she loved to laugh.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49This was one of her last performances.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53# Please don't talk about me when I'm gone
0:21:55 > 0:22:01# No, our friendship ceases from now on... #
0:22:01 > 0:22:02A lot of people,
0:22:02 > 0:22:09had just thrown their friendship away with her because of the drugs and the notoriety.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12# Just don't talk at all
0:22:12 > 0:22:15# That's my advice. #
0:22:19 > 0:22:22Billie died in hospital, aged just 44.
0:22:22 > 0:22:27She was arrested for heroin possession on her deathbed.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30After you're dead and gone, then you're the greatest thing that ever happened.
0:22:30 > 0:22:35But at the time you're doing it, you get a lot of criticism.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37It's the system.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41# We're parting You go your way, I'll go mine... #
0:22:41 > 0:22:45People think, "Oh, it was such a tragic life."
0:22:45 > 0:22:48Therefore this is how she sings, this is her voice.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52Instead of appreciating the actual genius of her voice.
0:22:52 > 0:22:56Lots of people have desperately sad things happen to them...
0:22:57 > 0:23:02..but they aren't able to communicate that in a medium you would call art.
0:23:02 > 0:23:07That's what's incredible about Billie Holiday.
0:23:07 > 0:23:18Please don't talk about me when I'm gone...
0:23:18 > 0:23:22Billie became a true icon only after her death.
0:23:22 > 0:23:27The next queen was a legend in her own lifetime, but had all the problems a '50s woman could have.
0:23:27 > 0:23:27The next queen was a legend in her own lifetime, but had all the problems a '50s woman could have.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31And then some.
0:23:31 > 0:23:36# Somewhere over the rainbow... #
0:23:36 > 0:23:39Judy Garland, showbiz queen.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41# Way up high
0:23:42 > 0:23:47# There's a land that I heard of
0:23:47 > 0:23:51# Once in a lullaby... #
0:23:52 > 0:23:55It is a song about lost childhood more than anything
0:23:55 > 0:23:58and this place that you can't really get back to.
0:23:58 > 0:24:02It's a really sad song and it shouldn't be.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08She had such a pure voice, a very crystal clear one
0:24:08 > 0:24:12and an innocence in the voice.
0:24:12 > 0:24:18Judy Garland's iconic status for the gay community, it's all connected to the Wizard Of Oz, going
0:24:18 > 0:24:21some place beautiful where you won't be discriminated against,
0:24:21 > 0:24:23accepted for who you are.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28People lived their life through Judy.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31Much of her audience wanted to be Judy Garland.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39She could make you like a song that you didn't like.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42That poor baby went through a lot too.
0:24:44 > 0:24:50Why oh why can't I...?
0:24:50 > 0:24:56She was so at peace and at home when she sang.
0:24:56 > 0:25:00It was all the other things that caused her chaos.
0:25:04 > 0:25:09Judy Garland started life on the stage and never really left it.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12We were about 12 years old when we first met.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15She was singing,
0:25:15 > 0:25:19# "I just adore the boy next door #
0:25:19 > 0:25:22and all the great songs that they had at the time.
0:25:22 > 0:25:24Maybe Cupid is there!
0:25:27 > 0:25:29She came to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32We became great friends.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35Her fresh face and big voice instantly made her a hit.
0:25:35 > 0:25:37'There is a new star in the heavens.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41'Young, fresh, beautiful and you discovered her.'
0:25:41 > 0:25:45This'll be a world record. I'm gonna put on my tuxedo and opera hat!
0:25:45 > 0:25:47'It was a conveyor belt system.
0:25:47 > 0:25:49'We made seven pictures a year.'
0:25:49 > 0:25:54You didn't read the scripts. They told you what you were going to do.
0:25:54 > 0:25:55And so we did it.
0:25:55 > 0:25:59'Each new picture brought Judy Garland closer to stardom.'
0:25:59 > 0:26:02In those days you worked six days a week
0:26:02 > 0:26:07and Mickey Rooney and I would work sometimes 72 hours at a time.
0:26:07 > 0:26:12Neither one of us grew very tall. They worked us so hard we became munchkins.
0:26:12 > 0:26:17# He's sweet just like chocolate candy... #
0:26:17 > 0:26:20They would give Judy a little bumper, a little boost.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24It started out coffee and cocoa at night.
0:26:24 > 0:26:31But then as they matured, it required more and more to stimulate and sedate, stimulate and sedate.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34# Meet the reason I beam so
0:26:34 > 0:26:37# Why I am happen and seem so-o-o...
0:26:37 > 0:26:40# Delighted, excited... #
0:26:40 > 0:26:43It can be incredibly destructive, which it was.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46# ..the beat of my heart... #
0:26:48 > 0:26:52You could see the tornado all around this little person because of her talent.
0:26:56 > 0:27:02'When we arrived in New York, I'll never forget, there was 40,000 people to greet us.
0:27:02 > 0:27:08'Judy was frightened at all the crowds, when people tear your clothes and this and that.'
0:27:08 > 0:27:10Get back, young lady, get back...
0:27:10 > 0:27:15She told me, "Mickey, I think we oughta go home, let's go home."
0:27:15 > 0:27:18CROWD SHOUTS
0:27:18 > 0:27:23And I said, "Just stick around, and we'll be all right."
0:27:26 > 0:27:28It was quite out of hand.
0:27:30 > 0:27:36# They're writing songs of love
0:27:36 > 0:27:38# But not for me... #
0:27:38 > 0:27:42Judy was big box office as the girl next door.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45People just fell so in love with her because she had this ability
0:27:45 > 0:27:48People just fell so in love with her because she had this ability
0:27:48 > 0:27:54to make you feel that you were her best friend and it was only you who knew her.
0:27:55 > 0:28:00She put her audience at ease, but didn't find real life so easy.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03I played her sister in a film.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07She did this very emotional scene of crying and she didn't say hello to anybody.
0:28:07 > 0:28:14She just got up and walked away after it was over and I thought, "Wow that's something."
0:28:15 > 0:28:17But her voice was full of feeling.
0:28:17 > 0:28:24# I guess he's not
0:28:24 > 0:28:29# For me-e-e... #
0:28:29 > 0:28:31You can hear the vulnerability in it.
0:28:31 > 0:28:35Heartache singers are about taking a song,
0:28:35 > 0:28:40take inside themselves and then when it comes back out it's something different.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43You have a transformative power over songs.
0:28:43 > 0:28:46And I think Judy Garland definitely had that.
0:28:47 > 0:28:51By 1950, aged 28, Judy had had two failed marriages,
0:28:51 > 0:28:56a nervous breakdown and several attempted suicides.
0:28:56 > 0:28:59The studio decided to get rid of her.
0:28:59 > 0:29:01They fired her because she was difficult.
0:29:01 > 0:29:03They fired her because she'd sometimes get late and
0:29:03 > 0:29:08sometimes she'd use some artificial stimulants
0:29:08 > 0:29:13and perhaps a little adult beverage and she was a handful.
0:29:13 > 0:29:16She re-invented herself as a stage performer.
0:29:16 > 0:29:18She made her problems part of her act.
0:29:18 > 0:29:21It was like a contract with the audience.
0:29:21 > 0:29:26She expressed and exaggerated their emotions and they loved her for it.
0:29:27 > 0:29:32My mother came out there and just took the audience and said "Let's go"
0:29:32 > 0:29:34and put her arms around them and they went with her.
0:29:34 > 0:29:38# The road gets rougher
0:29:38 > 0:29:42# It's lonelier and tougher
0:29:42 > 0:29:46# With hope you burn up
0:29:46 > 0:29:49# Tomorrow, he might turn up... #
0:29:49 > 0:29:53It was a complete roller coaster because she could make you weep.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56She brought you up onto your feet with these unbelievable soaring notes.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59She brought you up onto your feet with these unbelievable soaring notes.
0:29:59 > 0:30:03# Da-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-y
0:30:03 > 0:30:11# Ever since this world began
0:30:11 > 0:30:16# There is nothing sadder than
0:30:19 > 0:30:25# A one man woman
0:30:25 > 0:30:34# Looking for a man that got
0:30:34 > 0:30:39# Away. #
0:30:43 > 0:30:45She'd hit that stage like a marine.
0:30:45 > 0:30:48She wanted to pulverise an audience.
0:30:48 > 0:30:51Of course, the audience loved everything she sang
0:30:51 > 0:30:55and knew every note and they just couldn't get enough of her.
0:30:58 > 0:31:04The publicity for her films played up the parallels with her own life and career.
0:31:05 > 0:31:10'Yes, a star is born and you'll know it when you
0:31:10 > 0:31:14'experience the joy and jubilation as Judy Garland as the star.
0:31:14 > 0:31:19'A story that only life itself could have inspired.'
0:31:19 > 0:31:23It was getting hard to tell what was stage heartache and what was real.
0:31:23 > 0:31:24'From theatre to theatre...
0:31:24 > 0:31:30'From one lonely stage to another, yearning for the warmth no spotlight could give her.'
0:31:30 > 0:31:36# No more that all time thrill
0:31:36 > 0:31:42F# or you've been through the mill...
0:31:42 > 0:31:47People thought they knew about my mother, OK.
0:31:47 > 0:31:51What she hated was the fact when people thought that she was this tragic figure.
0:31:51 > 0:31:55She had tragedies in her life but she wasn't tragic.
0:31:55 > 0:31:59She was funny and gifted and the people who really knew her will tell you that.
0:31:59 > 0:32:03The humour was the surprise, always, her love of jokes.
0:32:03 > 0:32:06JUDY GARLAND: The next one is a sort of striptease tempo.
0:32:06 > 0:32:09We don't do it, we just talk about it.
0:32:09 > 0:32:13'And her stories. She was one of the great story tellers...'
0:32:13 > 0:32:16No, not in Carnegie Hall, it wouldn't look right!
0:32:16 > 0:32:18'She was a very bawdy lady...'
0:32:18 > 0:32:20If somebody moans, do you moan?
0:32:20 > 0:32:25A little bit like living in a volcano, but we had fun.
0:32:26 > 0:32:30Her weight yo-yoed, her marriages and her health crumbled.
0:32:30 > 0:32:36Her pact with the audience was feeding them but destroying her.
0:32:36 > 0:32:40By the time she was through the audience was crazy and she was really, really up.
0:32:40 > 0:32:44And then everybody went home and left her.
0:32:44 > 0:32:47And here she was adrift. Here she was alone.
0:32:48 > 0:32:54She couldn't come down off of what had to be one of the highest of highs.
0:32:55 > 0:32:58She lost a lot of her friends...
0:33:00 > 0:33:02They said, "I don't wanna be bothered."
0:33:02 > 0:33:06That can be the saddest thing in the world.
0:33:06 > 0:33:12# Somewhere over the rainbow... #
0:33:12 > 0:33:18On stage she was now almost like a sacrifice, with her daughter Liza holding her hand.
0:33:18 > 0:33:19Come on now, sing along!
0:33:19 > 0:33:23'Her audience wanted to push her closer to the edge.
0:33:25 > 0:33:29'They wanted to see at what point she would just collapse or break.'
0:33:29 > 0:33:36# Somewhere over the rainbow... #
0:33:36 > 0:33:38Keep singing!
0:33:38 > 0:33:40I saw the London Palladium show
0:33:40 > 0:33:44where Judy Garland is clearly not in control.
0:33:45 > 0:33:46People watched it happen in a kind of Christians and lions way.
0:33:47 > 0:33:50People watched it happen in a kind of Christians and lions way.
0:33:50 > 0:33:53# Oh why
0:33:53 > 0:33:55# Can't
0:33:55 > 0:34:02# I... #
0:34:02 > 0:34:07In 1969 Judy Garland died of an overdose.
0:34:07 > 0:34:10I was surprised she lasted that long,
0:34:10 > 0:34:13She'd tried to take her own life too many times.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16The whole world was sad
0:34:16 > 0:34:18but not surprised.
0:34:18 > 0:34:27# Somewhere over the rainbow... #
0:34:27 > 0:34:29As a child she was lonesome.
0:34:29 > 0:34:33I don't know whether she wanted show business as her life...
0:34:35 > 0:34:39..but then finally she couldn't live without it. It was so addictive.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42And that's the way show business is.
0:34:43 > 0:34:47Judy lived her life in the spotlight.
0:34:47 > 0:34:50She ushered in the celebrity age.
0:34:54 > 0:34:58Our next queen was always in the headlines and always lamenting it.
0:34:58 > 0:35:04Maria Callas, the drama queen put the showbiz into opera.
0:35:04 > 0:35:08# Casta Diva
0:35:08 > 0:35:12# Che inargenti... #
0:35:12 > 0:35:18Her voice was not deemed as perfect as some sopranos but is all the more moving for that.
0:35:18 > 0:35:21For me her voice was kind of dark.
0:35:21 > 0:35:25It's almost got a weepy sort of sound to it.
0:35:28 > 0:35:30But it's also very dramatic.
0:35:30 > 0:35:34And it has, it kind of has a really strong element of truth in it.
0:35:37 > 0:35:39When she was singing quietly, people wept.
0:35:39 > 0:35:43She was able to express it from her heart, you know,
0:35:43 > 0:35:45just straight out like that.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48She could fill the notes with something that few singers could do.
0:35:56 > 0:36:00The moment she began to sing I was frightened.
0:36:00 > 0:36:05# Ah ah ah ah! #
0:36:05 > 0:36:11I didn't know if this was something wonderful or something terrible.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15I had never heard any sounds like that in my life.
0:36:19 > 0:36:24Maria was born in New York to Greek immigrant parents who didn't get on.
0:36:27 > 0:36:31Her mother soon became the classic pushy parent.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36She was treated like an infant prodigy.
0:36:36 > 0:36:46"It is not", she said "A toy that I remember but I was made to sing and sing and sing to exhaustion."
0:36:46 > 0:36:52Her mother was always on the lookout for competitions for Maria to win.
0:36:52 > 0:36:56RADIO: 'What do you want to sing? Something like Madame Butterfly.
0:36:56 > 0:37:02'Un bel di, vedremo
0:37:02 > 0:37:06# Levarsi un fil di fumo... #
0:37:06 > 0:37:09The little shy girl, who felt podgy,
0:37:09 > 0:37:15didn't like it, to sort of compensate for that, she was eating more, and she became really fat.
0:37:15 > 0:37:22Even as a child, she understood the feeling of loneliness and being almost abandoned.
0:37:25 > 0:37:28In 1937, aged 13, Maria left New York for Greece
0:37:28 > 0:37:32In 1937, aged 13, Maria left New York for Greece
0:37:32 > 0:37:36with her mother and didn't see her father again for nine years.
0:37:36 > 0:37:39Maria used to say, "I didn't have a childhood.
0:37:39 > 0:37:43"My mother didn't understand me. And my father couldn't help me."
0:37:45 > 0:37:48At times I think her voice was really all that she had.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51That's what drove her.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54By 1945, she'd become a star in Greece.
0:37:56 > 0:38:00Now she had to conquer the world, which wasn't so easy.
0:38:00 > 0:38:05She travelled, auditioned, rehearsed, gained weight...and a husband.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08He was an Italian industrialist, who could have been her father.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11And he was dull at home.
0:38:12 > 0:38:14Her passion went into her singing.
0:38:14 > 0:38:21In 1949 she was doing a German opera in Venice when the soprano in another lighter opera fell ill.
0:38:25 > 0:38:28She was summoned to an instant audition.
0:38:28 > 0:38:30I went down...
0:38:30 > 0:38:31and he said "Sing."
0:38:41 > 0:38:45She was actually alternating one of Wagner's most dramatic roles
0:38:45 > 0:38:47with one of bel canto's lightest roles.
0:38:47 > 0:38:54All of Italy was agog talking about this incredible feat that had happened.
0:38:54 > 0:39:00Callas had won. Now everyone wanted to hear this versatile voice with its extraordinary range.
0:39:00 > 0:39:02Callas had won. Now everyone wanted to hear this versatile voice with its extraordinary range.
0:39:07 > 0:39:12She didn't have what is traditionally called a beautiful voice.
0:39:12 > 0:39:14Lots of people didn't like her voice.
0:39:14 > 0:39:19But when they heard her sing in person, the sheer drive,
0:39:19 > 0:39:22the electricity of her performances, they were bowled over.
0:39:22 > 0:39:24CALLAS SINGS AT HIGH PITCH
0:39:24 > 0:39:30By the 50s, Maria Callas was the most sought after opera singer in the world.
0:39:30 > 0:39:34Helped they say by a tapeworm, she morphed into a slinky celebrity.
0:39:34 > 0:39:38The new look fascinated the public.
0:39:38 > 0:39:44She set out to look like Audrey Hepburn and she did.
0:39:44 > 0:39:46People didn't recognize her.
0:39:46 > 0:39:53When she lost the weight, I think it was just another sign of her determination to be this huge star.
0:39:53 > 0:39:57Nothing was going to stand in the way of this happening.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00Callas reached out beyond opera.
0:40:00 > 0:40:04Before Callas, singers used to stand on the stage and gesture with their hands.
0:40:04 > 0:40:08And then after Callas the public weren't happy with that.
0:40:08 > 0:40:09They wanted real acting.
0:40:16 > 0:40:21She would become the person, that's why she was unforgettable.
0:40:25 > 0:40:31It wasn't a question of make-believe, it was a living emotion.
0:40:31 > 0:40:38# ..diedi fiori agli altar... #
0:40:38 > 0:40:45What she did was almost slow motion, very contained, almost understated...
0:40:45 > 0:40:50but what mattered was when she did do something it was so perfectly one
0:40:50 > 0:40:56with the music and when she did make a grand gesture, when she threw those arms out, it was like the fingertips
0:40:56 > 0:40:59went from one side of the stage to the other side of the stage,
0:40:59 > 0:41:01it was just immense.
0:41:01 > 0:41:18# Dol...or... #
0:41:18 > 0:41:22Many people thought Maria WAS the women she played on stage.
0:41:22 > 0:41:24Tosca is a famous example.
0:41:24 > 0:41:30You know, this woman who was very short-tempered and very jealous, but very courageous.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33And in a kind of way, that is a picture of Maria.
0:41:33 > 0:41:38She loved playing battling heroines like Bellini's Norma.
0:41:40 > 0:41:44'I don't say she resembles me but maybe yes in a certain way,'
0:41:44 > 0:41:47and she's very strong and very...
0:41:49 > 0:41:50..ferocious at times.
0:41:50 > 0:41:55You can imagine how strong and powerful she must be to be able to dominate these people.
0:42:00 > 0:42:03The power struggle with her mother now came to a head.
0:42:03 > 0:42:07Maria vowed never to speak to her again and never did.
0:42:10 > 0:42:15In 1956, just as she was making her debut in New York, the row became public.
0:42:15 > 0:42:18Maria had to fight to win back her audience.
0:42:18 > 0:42:21These are very personal and intimate problems.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25I would love to have a little bit of privacy on this thing.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28This was a wound that never healed.
0:42:28 > 0:42:32A mother... there's nothing extraordinary about how wonderful she is.
0:42:32 > 0:42:35She's got to be wonderful, otherwise don't have children.
0:42:35 > 0:42:38But if you do, don't expect anything in return.
0:42:38 > 0:42:40That is what she's supposed to do.
0:42:40 > 0:42:45To her great sadness, her own marriage remained childless.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48Callas won a reputation as the world's most difficult diva.
0:42:48 > 0:42:52NEWS: 'Ppera makes headlines with a performance that didn't happen.
0:42:52 > 0:42:56'Soprano Maria Callas has been known to walk out before,
0:42:56 > 0:43:00'so if you want to be sure of hearing her, don't get all dressed up, just go to a rehearsal.
0:43:00 > 0:43:04'She usually stays to the end of those.'
0:43:04 > 0:43:07She even fell out with the New York Met.
0:43:07 > 0:43:11We started quarrelling, unvoluntarily on my part,
0:43:13 > 0:43:18they offered me the old repertoire, that is the old Norma staging, which you all saw.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21Which she's done, time and time again.
0:43:21 > 0:43:25I hate the word "firing" in connection with such a distinguished artist, such as Maria Callas.
0:43:25 > 0:43:28I prefer to say that our ways parted.
0:43:28 > 0:43:30I suppose that made him angry.
0:43:30 > 0:43:32I don't know. I can't explain it otherwise.
0:43:35 > 0:43:39She said, "I am not a monster.
0:43:39 > 0:43:44"But I can be very difficult if it's a question of art.
0:43:44 > 0:43:49"All serious artists handle very important material.
0:43:49 > 0:43:49"All serious artists handle very important material.
0:43:49 > 0:43:53"For that I will always fight."
0:43:53 > 0:43:57There's one standard for music and that is perfect musicianship.
0:43:57 > 0:43:59Same thing with love.
0:44:02 > 0:44:07She fell in love with shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, and ended her ten-year marriage.
0:44:09 > 0:44:11Onassis was a collector of women.
0:44:11 > 0:44:15For nine years, they had a very intense relationship.
0:44:15 > 0:44:17Not always happy, lots of fights.
0:44:17 > 0:44:21He liked her because she was such a strong personality, you see.
0:44:21 > 0:44:26They had no children and didn't marry but were always together.
0:44:26 > 0:44:30But suddenly Onassis proposed to Jackie Kennedy, without telling Maria.
0:44:30 > 0:44:34Miss Callas, are you going to the wedding?
0:44:34 > 0:44:37When was the last time you saw Mr Onassis?
0:44:55 > 0:44:58Onassis was not the only loss.
0:44:58 > 0:45:01Callas knew that her voice was going...and knew what it had been.
0:45:02 > 0:45:04She was only a shadow of herself.
0:45:04 > 0:45:12Yet there were some moments where the miracle was present.
0:45:12 > 0:45:18I remember once she said, "Shall we hear some music?" I knew by then,
0:45:18 > 0:45:22what she meant, was, "Shall we hear some of my recordings?"
0:45:22 > 0:45:27She was looking at me, expectantly, and I thought, "What can I say?"
0:45:27 > 0:45:32After all, she was probably the greatest singer in a hundred years.
0:45:32 > 0:45:36So I ventured with,
0:45:36 > 0:45:38"It's marvellous singing."
0:45:38 > 0:45:41"Marvellous? Marvellous?" she said.
0:45:41 > 0:45:44"It isn't marvellous. It's bloody miraculous."
0:45:48 > 0:45:52Maria died in Paris, aged 53.
0:45:53 > 0:45:56The last two years of her life, she was lonely...
0:45:56 > 0:46:00but she's been lonely all her life.
0:46:01 > 0:46:06The tragedy in her life was not Onassis
0:46:06 > 0:46:11or the curtailment of her career and all that, no,
0:46:11 > 0:46:15two things, that she was unable to have had children
0:46:16 > 0:46:17two things, that she was unable to have had children
0:46:17 > 0:46:19and she never acquired
0:46:19 > 0:46:21the love of her mother.
0:46:23 > 0:46:25These are the tragedies
0:46:25 > 0:46:27in Maria Callas's life.
0:46:35 > 0:46:39Callas' voice was poised, our last queen's was wild.
0:46:39 > 0:46:41She wanted to break free of it all.
0:46:41 > 0:46:46Janis Joplin - the wild queen.
0:46:49 > 0:46:51# Baby
0:46:51 > 0:46:59# Cry baby
0:46:59 > 0:47:02# Welcome back home... #
0:47:02 > 0:47:05She's going back to some sort of animal howl.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08It's sort of somebody almost dispensing with language altogether.
0:47:08 > 0:47:12There's a huge amount of rage in Janis's singing, and pain.
0:47:12 > 0:47:16# Much much more that I did... #
0:47:16 > 0:47:20Janis when she sings is incredibly jubilant.
0:47:20 > 0:47:24You could hear pain in there, you could hear grief, or you could hear,
0:47:24 > 0:47:26having a really good time.
0:47:26 > 0:47:29# That I'll always be... #
0:47:29 > 0:47:32She would reach these extremes.
0:47:32 > 0:47:33# ..if you ever want me
0:47:33 > 0:47:39# Come on and cry, cry, baby
0:47:39 > 0:47:41# Cry baby!
0:47:41 > 0:47:46"Cry baby!"
0:47:46 > 0:47:51She must be ripping her muscles when she was singing, but.
0:47:51 > 0:47:53she kept doing it. she kept drinking.
0:47:53 > 0:47:58I'm sure she didn't do her three litres of water a day that you're meant to.
0:47:58 > 0:48:01But I suppose she only made it to 27.
0:48:04 > 0:48:09Janis started her 27 years in small town conservative Texas.
0:48:09 > 0:48:14The part of Texas where she's from, the women all
0:48:14 > 0:48:19kind of look like Charlie's angels, it's like a head cheerleader look.
0:48:19 > 0:48:20Janis had a complex about her looks always from really very early on from when she was a little girl.
0:48:20 > 0:48:25Janis had a complex about her looks always from really very early on from when she was a little girl.
0:48:25 > 0:48:30She had a big weight problem, bad skin problem.
0:48:30 > 0:48:36People threw things at her, not rocks but pieces of paper,
0:48:36 > 0:48:40"You're a pig," She was simply different.
0:48:40 > 0:48:46She didn't care what anybody thought, except at the same time she did care what they thought.
0:48:46 > 0:48:48She was very fragile.
0:48:48 > 0:48:52She was voted the ugliest man on campus, quite famously,
0:48:52 > 0:48:55which can't have been good for anybody's self esteem.
0:48:55 > 0:48:59In the racially divided South, Janis had black friends.
0:48:59 > 0:49:02She loved the music, loved it.
0:49:02 > 0:49:04They called her nigger lover.
0:49:04 > 0:49:08Teenage Janis started to sing the blues.
0:49:08 > 0:49:12# Gimme whiskey, gimme bourbon, give me gin... #
0:49:13 > 0:49:16I started singing when I was about 17,
0:49:16 > 0:49:19and I could sing...
0:49:19 > 0:49:21it was a surprise.
0:49:21 > 0:49:26In 1963 I couldn't stand Texas any more and I went to California...
0:49:26 > 0:49:32it's a lot freer, you can do what you wanna do, nobody bugs you.
0:49:32 > 0:49:34# Gimme gin
0:49:35 > 0:49:39# It don't matter what I'm drinkin'
0:49:39 > 0:49:41# As long as it drowns the sorrow I'm in. #
0:49:41 > 0:49:43She knocked on the door of a music cafe.
0:49:43 > 0:49:48There was this scruffy, dishevelled,
0:49:48 > 0:49:51what I thought was an ugly boy at the door.
0:49:51 > 0:49:57She didn't have a guitar, she didn't have a tambourine.
0:49:57 > 0:50:01She had nothing. She just clapped.
0:50:01 > 0:50:07And she sang all these slave songs and everything, but the people loved her.
0:50:07 > 0:50:10When she sang she was beautiful.
0:50:10 > 0:50:15# Oh Lord, won't you buy me, "a Mercedes Benz?
0:50:15 > 0:50:20# My friends all drive Porsches, and must make amends... #
0:50:20 > 0:50:24With me, she was always terribly sweet
0:50:24 > 0:50:31but when we went public, she would put on this other persona which was
0:50:31 > 0:50:35nasty and vulgar.
0:50:35 > 0:50:38It was like...
0:50:38 > 0:50:41another person.
0:50:44 > 0:50:46Nobody's gonna hurt me.
0:50:46 > 0:50:48Nobody is gonna hurt me.
0:50:51 > 0:50:58It's quite an obvious transition for a shy person to become completely outward
0:50:58 > 0:51:04and mental and drink too much and take too many drugs to offset that insecurity.
0:51:04 > 0:51:07But she hides it incredibly well.
0:51:07 > 0:51:12You just see this self assured, drunk, brilliant character
0:51:12 > 0:51:16who absolutely was one of the boys.
0:51:19 > 0:51:24Soon Janis was fronting one of the top bands on the scene, Big Brother the Holding Company.
0:51:24 > 0:51:27She had affairs with women and men...
0:51:27 > 0:51:30one with the singer of another band.
0:51:32 > 0:51:33When I was with her, she was very exuberant...
0:51:33 > 0:51:36When I was with her, she was very exuberant...
0:51:36 > 0:51:41I think she was enjoying being one of the only girls
0:51:41 > 0:51:43in a scene dominated by men.
0:51:45 > 0:51:47She was having a great time.
0:51:47 > 0:51:52Janis was the hottest chick in San Francisco at that time.
0:51:54 > 0:51:59Gutsy, glowing. Our whole image of sort of recreating Eden
0:51:59 > 0:52:01in San Francisco.
0:52:01 > 0:52:07It was the Monterey Pop Festival that thrust Janis onto the national stage.
0:52:07 > 0:52:13For her first set she wore jeans but when she knew the cameras were rolling, she startled everyone.
0:52:15 > 0:52:19This was not the Janis Joplin I knew.
0:52:19 > 0:52:23She had sequins on her eyelids and she was all made up.
0:52:27 > 0:52:32And I went "Oh, my god it's Janis Joplin."
0:52:32 > 0:52:34And she was fabulous.
0:52:34 > 0:52:43# Just like a ball and a, and a cha-a-in! #
0:52:43 > 0:52:45Monterey was a big turning point.
0:52:45 > 0:52:45Monterey was a big turning point.
0:52:50 > 0:52:56They started saying she was the greatest blues singer that had ever lived.
0:52:56 > 0:52:59They started stroking her in a way
0:52:59 > 0:53:04that really started driving her crazy I think.
0:53:07 > 0:53:10Professionally it was a great thing for her,
0:53:10 > 0:53:13but in the long run it was devastating.
0:53:15 > 0:53:19Hitting the big time meant leaving Big Brother And The Holding Company behind.
0:53:19 > 0:53:22From day one she knew she wanted to be a star,
0:53:22 > 0:53:24and if we would have known that,
0:53:24 > 0:53:28we would have been horrified, because it was very uncool in that
0:53:28 > 0:53:32hippy counter culture for anyone to want to push themselves forward.
0:53:32 > 0:53:36Everyone wanted to push themselves forward but it was really uncool to admit that.
0:53:42 > 0:53:44Queens of heartache are solo singers.
0:53:44 > 0:53:51And despite their many partners, their true love affair is with their audience.
0:53:51 > 0:53:54# Come on, come on, come on
0:53:54 > 0:53:56# And take it
0:53:56 > 0:53:58# Take another piece of ... #
0:53:58 > 0:54:05There's nothing that can really compare with that love, that's oceanic, all-encompassing.
0:54:05 > 0:54:09The whole performance is sort of an orgasmic kind of situation.
0:54:09 > 0:54:13# You know you got if it makes you feel good!
0:54:13 > 0:54:15# Sing it right now! #
0:54:19 > 0:54:21She was highly sexual.
0:54:21 > 0:54:25And she was also that on stage.
0:54:25 > 0:54:30But what made Janice so great
0:54:30 > 0:54:34was the ecstatic experience.
0:54:34 > 0:54:39# Take it, take another little piece of my heart now, baby,
0:54:39 > 0:54:44# Break up! Break another little bit of my heart... #
0:54:44 > 0:54:46It was like the atoms in the whole place, started
0:54:46 > 0:54:52to vibrate, and everyone was tuned into this queen bee kind of vibe.
0:54:52 > 0:54:58They loved everything that she did, they loved the self-destructive things that she did.
0:54:58 > 0:55:01Some people who are entertainers don't always buy into their own
0:55:01 > 0:55:05publicity, and their own myths, but she bought into it big time.
0:55:05 > 0:55:10Liberated woman I think is a sort of understatement.
0:55:10 > 0:55:14These guys would go backstage, say, "I really loved your performance.
0:55:14 > 0:55:16She said "Take your pants off."
0:55:16 > 0:55:23When the woman is an aggressor, it's often pretty intimidating, you know.
0:55:26 > 0:55:29# Summer time... #
0:55:29 > 0:55:33She could out ball the guys... but always knew she was different.
0:55:33 > 0:55:36# Child
0:55:36 > 0:55:39# You're living easy
0:55:39 > 0:55:45'Women, to be in the music business, give up more than you'd ever know.'
0:55:47 > 0:55:51'Home life,
0:55:51 > 0:55:56'an old man, probably, you give up children and friends.
0:55:56 > 0:56:00'You give up any constant in the world except music...
0:56:00 > 0:56:05that's the only thing you've got, man.
0:56:05 > 0:56:10She once told me it was very difficult being Janis Joplin.
0:56:10 > 0:56:14Whenever people saw her in a bar or anything, she was on.
0:56:14 > 0:56:19It was as if she was performing 18 hours a day, really.
0:56:20 > 0:56:25In August 1970 Janis went to a reunion at her old school.
0:56:25 > 0:56:28She wanted the approval.
0:56:28 > 0:56:31She wanted to come back as a star
0:56:31 > 0:56:34and have them love her, which they did not.
0:56:34 > 0:56:38How were you different from your school mates? I don't know.
0:56:38 > 0:56:41Why don't you ask them?
0:56:41 > 0:56:42Was it they who made you different?
0:56:42 > 0:56:45No. You were different in comparison to them?
0:56:47 > 0:56:49I felt apart from them.
0:56:49 > 0:56:53I didn't go to the high school prom.
0:56:53 > 0:56:56You were asked, weren't you? No, I wasn't.
0:56:56 > 0:57:00I don't think they wanted to take me.
0:57:02 > 0:57:06Two months later, Janis died of an accidental heroin overdose.
0:57:08 > 0:57:15TV: 'On January 13th, Colombia Records released the album which Janis Joplin had been recording
0:57:15 > 0:57:16'at the time of her death.'
0:57:19 > 0:57:22It's the record for which she is most remembered.
0:57:22 > 0:57:26# ..rode us all the way to New Orleans... #
0:57:28 > 0:57:34Part of the romance of the blues is that here is someone destroying
0:57:34 > 0:57:39themselves, and at the same point, generating this incredible art.
0:57:39 > 0:57:42It's like somebody like falling off a building,
0:57:42 > 0:57:45shouting something to you as they're falling, which makes it
0:57:45 > 0:57:49all the more intense and passionate.
0:57:49 > 0:57:51# Freedom is just another word
0:57:51 > 0:57:53# For nothing left to lose
0:57:53 > 0:57:56# Nothing don't mean nothing, hon, if it ain't free... #
0:57:56 > 0:58:02It's horrible in some ways because you take pleasure in listening to a song that's produced by their pain.
0:58:02 > 0:58:06It's like they're making a sacrifice
0:58:06 > 0:58:11but with these women, you're making something beautiful out of something terrible.
0:58:13 > 0:58:19With their voices full of fire and fight, these women weren't just singers...
0:58:19 > 0:58:21they were moments in history.
0:58:22 > 0:58:26# La la la la na na na
0:58:26 > 0:58:29# La la la la la la la la na na na
0:58:29 > 0:58:33# Hey now Bobby McGee, yeah
0:58:33 > 0:58:36# Lord, I'm calling my lover, calling my man
0:58:36 > 0:58:38I said I'm calling my lover just the best I can
0:58:38 > 0:58:43# C'mon, where is Bobby now, where is Bobby McGee, yeah
0:58:43 > 0:58:49# Ah la la la la, la la la la la la la la la la la la
0:58:49 > 0:58:51# Hey hey hey, Bobby McGee... #
0:58:51 > 0:58:55Do you have an explanation why you're so popular?