For over 50 years, Valerie Holiday has been delighting audiences worldwide as the longest performing member of the successful girl group The Three Degrees, which holds the Guinness Book of World Records’ distinction of being the longest-running female vocal group in history.

In March, she released her debut album ‘In Bloom’ as a solo artist. A

lthough this is her first solo project, Holiday is no stranger to performing alone; she was a solo artist beforejoining The Three Degrees in 1967, and has done live shows by herself over the years in between the group’s tour dates.

She said her project is titled “In Bloom” because it’s her first solo album; and the cover features a slightly opening peony flower because she feels like a flower blooming by sharing this collection of songs.  Regarding the material that Holiday chose to record, she turned to standards because she ‘absolutely loves lyrics’ and wanted to cover such classic songs the way she felt them, not the way a record label told her to. (Holiday has the latitude to do this because she, as opposed to a record label, is in “sole control of” the album, a venture that she calls ‘scary yet freeing.’) The standards that she put her spin on are rooted in love, as she wanted the album to have an “intimate feel,” taking you through the different stages of a relationship.