Stella Heath: The Billie Holiday Project at Contra Costa Civic Theatre

El Cerrito, CA — Contra Costa Civic Theatre is thrilled to announce that their 2025/26 Concert Series will continue this April with Stella Heath’s The Billie Holiday Project, a one-night-only concert honoring the music and legacy of Billie Holiday, on Saturday, April 4 at 7:00 PM.

The Billie Holiday Project is an intimate evening of live jazz, storytelling, and history. Backed by a top-tier jazz ensemble, Heath performs selections from Holiday’s catalog while offering insight into the life and impact of one of the most influential voices in American music. The concert honors Holiday’s legacy while keeping the focus on connection, storytelling, and the music itself.

A Bay Area–based vocalist and performer, Heath brings a background in acting and a deep love of jazz history to her work. Since premiering The Billie Holiday Project in 2019, the concert has been presented at countless venues throughout the Bay Area and on tour nationally. The production has been praised for its intimacy, warmth, and ability to make jazz history accessible without losing its emotional impact.

“Ms. Heath delivers one of the most moving, personal, intimate concerts I’ve ever witnessed,” says CCCT’s Executive Artistic & Managing Director, Joel Roster. “Her impeccable vocal similarities to Billie Holiday aside, the stories she shares and the connection she builds with her audience is nothing short of spectacular. We are deeply honored to host her at CCCT.”

Contra Costa Civic Theatre is proud to welcome Heath to its Concert Series and excited to share this standout performance with the community.

Tickets are on sale now at www.ccct.org.

About the Artist

Singing since the age of eight, Stella feels wholly blessed to be able to express herself through music and song, and to carry forth the torch of Jazz Music that she loves so dearly. She grew up in the North San Francisco Bay Area, steeped in her mother’s eclectic music collection; some of her early musical influences were Louis Armstrong, Edith Piaf, Buena Vista Social Club, Billie Holiday, Tom Waits, Bod Dylan and Ella Fitzgerald. Her education was primarily in Acting at Interlochen Arts Academy and Syracuse University, where she received a degree in classical acting and cultural geography. She spent many years as a Shakespearian actress based out of New York City, where she began to sing Jazz again with the incredible Marjorie Eliot in Harlem. She moved to her home state of California in 2014, and began playing music full time, starting the eclectic gypsy jazz inspired band, Bandjango Collectif, a wild around the edges band that mixes French Jazz Manouche, New Orleans Hot Swing, and Eclectic Global Folk, allowing Stella to explore and play in vocal improvisation, different languages, and song interpretation. In 2019 she debuted The Billie Holiday Project, a historically centered musical tribute to the great Lady Day; The show was met with great success and quickly moved into some of the Bay Area's most reputable listening venues and began touring nationally. The pandemic brought fruitful new musical connections and collaborations with musicians such as Marcus Shelby, Gunhild Carling, and Ben Levin in Cincinnati.

In October 2023, Stella released an EP with Ben Levin, "Waiting Just for You" on the Vizztone Label. She will release a much anticipated Billie Holiday Tribute Album as well as a Holiday Album in 2025. In Addition to The Billie Holiday Project, Stella has blended history and music in programs such as "Stella Meets Nat: celebrating the work of Early Nat King Cole and the King Cole Trio," "From Billie Holiday to Edith Piaf," "Unsung Standards: Lesser known gems from the Great American Songbook" and " Stella Swings Ella". Stella has a passion for uncovering gems from the library and music archives. She has a deep love for Jazz and its history, and believes it should be an integral part of American childhood curriculum. Stella took on the role of Education Coordinator for Healdsburg Jazz in 2023, and works to bring Jazz and cultural music into the Public School System and Community in Sonoma County. She is also a new mother of twins!

Learn more at www.stellaheathmusic.com.