Judy Garland and Over the Rainbow

Judy Garland's voice and destiny are still haunting people's memory and seducing new generations. With two new biographies, a TV production (Me and My Shadows), and several of her films and performances on DVD, the legend lives on.

On BBC Radio, 40.000 listeners elected "the voices of the century." Judy Garland was among the top ten, with Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday and Barbra Streisand.

Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg's Over the Rainbow was declared "Song of the Century" by the US RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America). When the English daily The Guardian interviewed 40 prominent artists to name the greatest songs ever written, Over the Rainbow was rated third, after The Beatles' In My Life and Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers selected Over the Rainbow in the 25 Top Songs of the Century, based on the number of performances and rights collected.

Eric Clapton, Aretha Franklin, Tori Amos, Jerry Lee Lewis, Barbra Streisand, Jewel, Don McLean, Harry Nilsson, Gene Vincent, Patti Labelle, Chet Baker, Shirley Bassey, Rufus Wainwright, Tony Benett … all sang Over the Rainbow:

Judy Garland worked for nearly 45 of her 47 years. She made 32 feature films, received a special Academy Award and was nominated for two others. She starred in 30 of her own television shows and appeared as a guest on nearly 30 more. Between 1951 and 1969, she fulfilled over 1.100 theatre, nightclub and concert performances, winning a special Tony Award for the first of three record-breaking Broadway engagements at The Palace. She recorded nearly 100 singles and over a dozen record albums; Judy at Carnegie Hall received an unprecedented five Grammys in 1962 and has never been out of print. Prior to signing her MGM contract in 1935 - she fulfilled hundreds of live vaudeville and radio dates with her two older sisters.

Her too-soon death, the generosity she put into her concerts, the emotion of her voice, the duration of the myth through her daughter Liza Minelli ...

Everything contributes in keeping the legend alive.