Donald Clarke

Donald Clarke is a music historian and reference editor whose work joins close biographical research with an interest in popular culture. Billie Holiday appears in current editions with the subtitle Wishing On The Moon and reconstructs the singer's life from interviews, archival evidence, and the extensive material gathered by Linda Kuehl during the 1970s. Clarke places Holiday's recordings beside the professional relationships, touring conditions, and personal pressures that shaped her career. The book first appeared in 1994 as Wishing on the Moon: The Life and Times of Billie Holiday, then returned through Da Capo Press in a substantial 508-page edition. Clarke also edited The Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music, experience that informs his attention to performers, songwriters, labels, and changing musical taste. Billie Holiday is consequently more than a chronological life story: it situates a singular voice within the working world of twentieth-century jazz and American entertainment.