Billie Holiday was one of the most influential voices in Jazz and Blues music. Beyond her music career, Holiday was an inspiration to many Americans during a difficult time in our history. While she faced personal struggles and hardships, she was always able to transform her pain into art.
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How did Billie Holiday impact the world?
Considered by many to be one of the greatest jazz vocalists of all time, Billie Holiday triumphed over adversity to forever change the genres of jazz and pop music with her unique styling and interpretation. Holiday left employment as a maid to pursue work as a dancer in Harlem nightclubs.
Why should Billie Holiday be remembered?
Passing away at only 44, Holiday's influence has outlived her real life by decades, her unique style and voice leaving a lasting legacy in jazz, blues and pop music. Through her life and songs, she also shaped pop culture far beyond her time in the form of the elusive and troubled artist and politically themed tracks.
Why was Billie Holiday important to America?
Holiday became the first African American woman to work with an all-white band. One of her most famous songs, “Strange Fruit” was based on a horrific and detailed account of a lynching in the South. Many scholars now consider it one of the first protest songs of the Civil Rights Movement.
What was Billie Holiday major accomplishments?
Grammy Lifetime Achievem...Grammy Hall of FameBillie Holiday/Awards
How did Billie Holiday help others?
Holiday toured with the Count Basie Orchestra in 1937. The following year, she worked with Artie Shaw and his orchestra. Holiday broke new ground with Shaw, becoming one of the first female African American vocalists to work with a white orchestra.
How is Billie Holiday remembered today?
Today, Billie Holiday is remembered for her musical masterpieces, her songwriting skills, creativity and courageous views on inequality and justice. Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan Gough) grew up in jazz-soaked Baltimore of the 1920s.
What did Billie Holiday do as an activist?
Most people do not know just how courageous Billie Holiday was — traveling through the Jim Crow South, defying the KKK, jeopardizing her own safety, her own livelihood, to use her platform to raise public awareness about the lynching of Black people here in the United States.
How did Billie Holiday change jazz music?
Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. She was known for her vocal delivery and improvisational skills.
What part did Billie Holiday play in the civil rights movement?
Holiday's career in showbusiness started at age 14, and she signed her first recording contract at 20 years old. But alongside the promise of her musical career, Billie Holiday lived and saw firsthand the active enforcement of Jim Crow laws, ongoing lynchings in the South, and discrimination in northern cities.
What is Billie Holiday's most famous song?
Billie Holiday's most popular song is “Carelessly”, released in 1937, which peaked at #1 on the charts. This is the only #1 hit that Holiday had, which is actually very surprising.
How did Billie Holiday influence Harlem Renaissance?
Through her jazz improvisation, sincerity, and manipulation of phrasing, Billie Holiday created a revolutionary style of singing that many musicians copied in years to come.
Who has Billie Holiday inspired?
Billie Holiday has one of the most distinctive voices of all time; she inspired many artists; Frank Sinatra, Andra Day, Nina Simone, Joni Mitchell, Janis Joplin and Etta James. But why is her voice so relevant over 60s years after her death in 1959?
How did Billie Holiday change jazz music?
Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. She was known for her vocal delivery and improvisational skills.
Why was Billie Holiday significant?
Billie Holiday was one of the greatest jazz singers from the 1930s to the ’50s. She had no formal musical training, but, with an instinctive sense...
What was Billie Holiday best known for?
As a singer, Holiday was known for her dramatic intensity, which could render the most banal lyric profound. Among the songs identified with her we...
How did Billie Holiday get famous?
Holiday began her career singing in a Harlem nightclub and made her first recordings in 1933, with Benny Goodman and others. Two years later a seri...
What song did Wilson sing on Blue Light till Dawn?
One of the songs that appears on both is "Strange Fruit," and the differences are instructive. It's not the first time Wilson has recorded "Strange Fruit "—she gave a spare reading on 1996's Blue Light 'Til Dawn, a perversely swinging rendition backed by bass and some guitar and trumpet for accent.
Who is the guitarist on Belly of the Sun?
It might be my favorite Wilson record since 2002's Belly of the Sun; both prominently feature guitarist Kevin Breit. (Just like Holiday, according to nearly every account, Wilson has a magnetic stage presence, transfixing listeners and managing to wring genuine emotion from even the tritest standard.
Who were the two singers in the original Holiday?
Instead, the two singers—Jose James and Cassandra Wilson —take songs from Holiday's repertoire and make them their own. Like Holiday before her, Wilson has probably the most distinctive voice among jazz singers of her era—a sultry, sometimes breathy, and powerful one, with a powerful command of dynamics and phrasing.
Is Jose James a baritone?
Jose James's record, Yesterday I Had the Blues, is a little closer to Holiday's own sound—though he's a baritone, he can summon some of her piercing tone in his upper range, and he applies some of the strategic vibrato that Holiday made good use of.
Who is the singer who sang "What a Wonderful World"?
Ol' Blue Eyes remains an icon, but Bob Dylan tributes aside, Sinatra sounds, well, old. Louis Armstrong? Still loved by musicians, but mostly known in the general public for his treacly late-career anthem to optimism, "What a Wonderful World.". Billie Holiday, though—she's got a claim.
Who Was Billie Holiday?
Billie Holiday is considered one of the best jazz vocalists of all time, Holiday had a thriving career as a jazz singer for many years before she lost her battle with substance abuse. Also known as Lady Day, her autobiography was made into the 1972 film Lady Sings the Blues. In 2000, Holiday was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
How old was Billie Holiday when she was sent to the House of Good Shepherd?
She was then sent to the House of Good Shepherd, a facility for troubled African American girls, in January 1925. Only 9 years old at the time, Holiday was one of the youngest girls there. She was returned to her mother's care in August of that year. According to Donald Clarke's biography, Billie Holiday: Wishing on the Moon, ...
What songs did Billie Holiday sing?
Over the years, Holiday sang many songs of stormy relationships, including "T'ain't Nobody's Business If I Do" and "My Man." These songs reflected her personal romances, which were often destructive and abusive.
When did Billie Holiday return to the moon?
According to Donald Clarke's biography, Billie Holiday: Wishing on the Moon, she returned there in 1926 after she had been sexually assaulted. In her difficult early life, Holiday found solace in music, singing along to the records of Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong.
Who believed that Holiday was the symbol of everything that America had to be afraid of?
FBN commissioner Harry Anslinger believed Holiday to be the symbol of everything that America had to be afraid of.
Who was the first African American female vocalist to work with a white orchestra?
Holiday toured with the Count Basie Orchestra in 1937. The following year, she worked with Artie Shaw and his orchestra. Holiday broke new ground with Shaw, becoming one of the first female African American vocalists to work with a white orchestra.
When did Lady in Satin come out?
After years of lackluster recordings and record sales, Holiday recorded Lady in Satin (1958) with the Ray Ellis Orchestra for Columbia. The album's songs showcased her rougher sounding voice, which still could convey great emotional intensity.
Billie Holiday Biography, Music, & Facts Britannica
Jul 13, 2020 · Why was Billie Holiday significant? Billie Holiday was one of the greatest jazz singers from the 1930s to the ’50s. She had no formal musical training, but, with an instinctive sense of musical structure and a deep knowledge of jazz and blues , she developed a singing style that was deeply moving and individual.
Billie Holiday - Life, Songs & Strange Fruit - Biography
Billie Holiday is considered one of the best jazz vocalists of all time, Holiday had a thriving career as a jazz singer for many years before she lost her battle with substance abuse. Also known...Born: Apr 07, 1915
Billie Holiday remains an important figure on the musical ..
Billie Holiday, by Stuart Nicholson, Northeastern University Press, Boston, 1995, $29.95. Billie Holiday remains an important figure on the musical landscape because she forces us to reconsider some of art’s most important and enduring
Billie Holiday (1915-1959) - blackpast.org
Jun 16, 2007 · Courtesy Library of Congress (gottlieb.04251) Billie Holiday is considered by many critics and fans to have been one of the most important jazz vocalists of the twentieth century. Her difficult life of poverty, abusive relationships, and drug abuse helped give her voice a deep, raw emotion that was expressed in the music she sang.
Black History Month: Billie Holiday bio, music, facts and more
A teenage Holiday went down to Harlem “looking for any kind of work,” the Times reported. Both mother and daughter had ultimately turned to prostitution . Billie Holiday performs at a New York ...
Billie Holiday Biography, Life, Interesting Facts
Billie Holidaywas an American Jazz musician as well as a singer cum songwriter. She adopted her Billie Holiday, a pseudonym from Billie Dove whom she admired so much. Her groundbreaking melody and capability of creating music from everything and anything made her famous in her Jazz business.
100 facts about Billie Holiday's life and legacy - USA TODAY
Apr 07, 2015 · Holiday performed in 1935. One hundred years ago, Billie Holiday, as she later became known, was born in Philadelphia. The legendary singer would have an enormous impact on jazz and pop music. Here...
What a little moonlight can do Billie Holiday?
From singing in countless nightclubs in Harlem, New York City to releasing hit songs after hit songs, Billie Holiday had a wonderful music career that only a few artists in history could ever dream of having. Born Eleanora Fagan, Billie holiday’s influence on jazz music and pop songs remains in a unique category of its own; her vocal style left an indelible mark on many jazz instrumentalists and singers. With monumental hit songs like “What a Little Moonlight Can Do”, it came as no surprise that she consistently had sold-out concerts at the famous Carnegie Hall in the late 1940s.
What Billie Holiday songs have been inducted into the Hall of Fame?
Other Billie Holiday songs that have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame include “My Man” (1937) , “Embraceable You” (1944), “Crazy He Calls Me”, “Lover Man” (1945), etc.
What is the song Strange Fruit based on?
Billie Holiday’s song “Strange Fruit” was released in 1939. The song was based on a poem by Abel Meeropol – a Jewish schoolteacher. The poem was Meeropol’s way of protesting against lynching of Blacks in America, particular in the deep South.
What was Billie Holiday's first song?
The first songs from Holiday-Wilson collaboration were “What a Little Moonlight Can Do” and “Miss Brown to You”. The former song proved to be Billie Holiday’s real breakthrough song, as it was well received by critics. Then there was the song “I Cried for You” that went on to sell about 15,000 copies.
How many copies of Riffin the Scotch were sold?
Her debut song “Riffin’ the Scotch” was received very well and sold more than 5,000 copies.
What caused Lady Day to die?
Died of – heart failure caused by cirrhosis of the liver. Buried at – Saint Raymond’s Cemetery in the Bronx. Parents – Sarah Julia “Sadie” Fagan and Clarence Holiday. Spouse – Jimmy Monroe (married in 1941), Louis McKay (1957) Also Known As – “Lady Day”.
When did Billie Holiday's statue go up?
To honor her immense contribution to jazz music and music in general, a statue of Billie Holiday went up in Baltimore in 1985.
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What year was Lady Day on Columbia?
The 10-CD “Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia 1933-1944” box set captures her in her best voice and at her most optimistic. The three-CD set, “The Complete Commodore & Decca Masters,” from the overlapping years of 1939-1950, finds her at her knottiest, hinting at dark currents just below the languid surface. The two-CD set, “Lady in Autumn: The Best of the Verve Years,” skims the cream from her wildly inconsistent later years, 1946-1959, when her voice was frayed but her demons were at their most dramatic.
What is the song Strange Fruit about?
With the seemingly constant stream of news of young, unarmed black men being shot to death by the police, Holiday’s anti-lynching song, “Strange Fruit,” seems suddenly relevant again. Wilson plants the song firmly in the 21st century by having her guitarists sample their own playing, add synthesized sci-fi effects, and then use those phrases as repeating loops as if they were rumors buzzing around the internet. Within that contemporary context, she follows Holiday’s example in creating that oxymoron: the understated protest song. You expect the 1939 Holiday and the 2015 Wilson to shout the lyrics in flustered outrage but instead they reluctantly murmur the words in a combination of stunned horror and sorrow that's more compelling than any hollered slogan.
How many songs did Wilson play on Coming Forth by Day?
Wilson has long been influenced by Holiday’s music, and to mark the centennial of her role model's birth, Wilson has released “Coming Forth by Day,” an album of 11 songs recorded by Holiday plus “Last Song,” Wilson’s own tune about Holiday and Lester Young.
When we think of Billie Holiday, what did he draw from behind his acoustic guitar?
“When we think of Billie Holiday,” he drawled from behind his acoustic guitar, “most people think of her as a junkie rather than as a girl who grew up on the Baltimore waterfront ...
What is the Centennial Collection?
To mark Holiday’s 100th birthday, Columbia Records has released “The Centennial Collection” on the Legacy imprint. This well-chosen sampler of 20 well known songs from her Columbia years is a good one-disc introduction, but once you get hooked on her singing, you’ll probably want more.
What is Frank Sinatra's minimalist approach?
This minimalist approach was a landmark change in American culture that influenced not only jazz singing but also jazz instrumentals, pop singing, theater and much more. Frank Sinatra, for one, has always been forthright about the huge debt he owes to Holiday.
What is the song Strange Fruit about?
Strange Fruit exemplifies the racist ways of the 20's, 30's, and 40's. The song is based upon a poem written by a Jewish high school teacher from the Bronx, Abel Meeropol. His poem, entitled "Bitter Fruit" depicted the 1930 lynchings of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in Marion, Indiana.
What does the line "blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze"?
The following lines, "Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze" refer to the lynchings, the blood being the blood of the victims. These last two lines burned an image of the cruelty of racism into the listener's mind.
Did Billie Holiday go to jail?
Billie got into the business as well. Both woman were later arrested and sent to prison. When Billie was released, she began working as a singer in nightclubs. Holiday's reputation grew and grew, and soon she began singing at many night clubs all over New York.
Who was Billie Holiday's father?
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 7, 1915, Eleonora Fagan, later known as Billie Holiday, was born. Her father, Clarence Holiday, also a musician, never married or lived with her mother.
Who was Lady Day's accompanist?
This caused him to sign Billie to his label, Brunswick Records, where she would record with accompanist, Teddy Wilson. She was later accompanied by a tenant at her mother's house, Lester Young. He gave her the well renowned nickname, "Lady Day".
