Eleanora Fagan was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 7, 1915. Growing up in extreme poverty, and being raised by a single mother “Billie” didn’t have any hope for a future in this world. She dropped out of school in the fifth grade, and ran around doing errands for her mother who owned a brothel at the time. At the age of twelve, “Billie” and her mother moved to Harlem, New York. After being arrested multiple times for prostitution, “Billie” eventually found herself a gig as a singer at Pod and Jerry’s Log Cabin. At the young age of twenty, John Hammond heard “Billie” perform and very shortly after reported that she had been the greatest singer he has ever heard. With the backing of Hammond, “Billie” went on to work with some of the greatest jazz musicians to ever walk this earth: Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, and saxophonist Lester Young. Unbeknownst to them, Young and “Billie” would create some on the greatest jazz recordings of all time.
Lester Young and “Billie Holiday” became great friends throughout their lives, and give each other their famed nicknames “Lady Day” and the “Prez”. Songs like “Mean To Me” and “This Year’s Kisses” are just some of the collaborations between the two. It wasn’t until 1939, when Holiday released “Strange Fruit” that she started to gain a real audience. A powerful record about lynching, “Strange Fruit” became a revelation in the emotional and disturbing condemnation of the racism that was going on in the South.
Due to the constant racial attacks that Holiday was facing during her tour she spent most of the 1940’s performing in New York. Throughout her career, “Billie” released other jazz defining records entitiled; “God Bless the Child”, “Lover Man”, “All of Me”, and “Solitude” composed by the legendary Duke Ellington. These are just a few records released by Holiday that made a huge impact in not only the genre of Jazz, but music as a whole.
After the death of Holiday’s mother in the late 1940’s, the addiction she had to heroin overtook her entire being. “Billie” was repeatedly arrested for possession of narcotics. Holiday eventually checked herself into a rehabilitation center in hopes that she could be free from her addiction. In the year 1959, “Billie” died at the age of forty-four due to complications from the years of drugs that she had taken. Today, “Billie Holiday” is still regarded as on the best Jazz singers known to man, and one of the first artist to incorporate political issues into their art. Her legacy continues to live on in various mediums of art including television, movies, and music. Lee Daniels, famed television and movie producer and writer released the film “Billie Holiday vs. The United States” in . The film went on to receive a Grammy Award, and a Emmy Award.
Today, “Billie Holiday” is still regarded as on the best Jazz singers known to man, and one of the first artist to incorporate political issues into their art. Her legacy continues to live on in various mediums of art including television, movies, and music. Lee Daniels, famed television and movie producer and writer released the film “Billie Holiday vs. The United States” in . The film went on to receive a Grammy Award, and a Emmy Award.
