Billie Holiday

This is a fan site for Billie Holiday, jazz legend. My intention of this site it to honor and respect this fabulous lady. This site will not in any way, shape or form, dishonor her or her music.Eleanora Fagan (aka Billie Holiday) was born on April 7, 1915, and died on July 17, 1959, so was 44 years old when she passed on. Billie Holiday had a very difficult childhood, which would show in her life and her music. Eleanora took the name of Billie from her favorite silent movie actress, Billie Dove; she then took her father's last name, Holiday. Clarence Holiday was a jazz guitar musician who performed with the Fletcher Henderson band. Billie's career lasted from 1935 to 1959. Billie started out singing at a brothel that her mother worked at as a maid and Billie helped out as well. She would sing to Bessie Smith's records on an old gramophone in the brothel. Billie's mother moved to New York while she left Billie at relatives; however, Billie pretty much raised herself for awhile. "Billie went to New York to live with her mother-but her mother had other plans. She moved Billie to a room in an apartment house where she was once again left to fend for herself. Billie ran into some trouble with the law and had to spend a few months in jail. When Billie was released she knew she had to earn more money to survive and she started singing in clubs. When she was fifteen, she had to sing the same songs over and over again for customers. To keep the music interesting, Billie changed her voice and timing slightly while repeating the same lyrics. She claimed that she never liked to sing a song the same way twice. She loved the styles of Louis Armstrong and the great blues singer Bessie Smith, and learned to use her voice like an instrument, a skill that helped her attract the attention of talented jazz bandleaders." [http://pbskids.org/jazz/nowthen/billie.html] "Although she never underwent any technical training and never even so much as learned how to read music, Holiday quickly became an active participant in what was then one of the most vibrant jazz scenes in the country. She would move from one club to another, working for tips. She would sometimes sing with the accompaniment of a house piano player while other times she would work as part of a group of performers." [Billie Holiday: The Official Site of Lady Day] "According to legend, she sang "Body and Soul" in a local club and reduced the audience to tears. She ultimately landed at Pod's and Jerry's, a well known Harlem jazz club. Her early work history is hard to verify, though accounts say she was working at a club named Monette's in 1933 when she was discovered by talent scout John Hammond. [From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia] "...That year, Hammond helped land Holiday recording work with bandleader Benny Goodman. She also met saxophonist Lester Young around this time and he was the one who gave her the nickname “Lady Day." The two would be friends and musical cohorts for many years. Known for her distinctive phrasing and soulful, soft, yet strong voice, Holiday went on to record with jazz pianist Teddy Wilson and his orchestra in 1935. She also worked with the Count Basie Orchestra in the late 1930s. Holiday recorded two of her most well-regarded songs during this period: her own composition “God Bless the Child” (1939) and “Strange Fruit” (1939), a powerful story about the lynching of African Americans in the South. She signed with Decca Records in 1944 and scores an R&B hit the next year with “Lover Man.” While she was becoming more famous and successful in her professional life, Holiday’s personal life began to deteriorate in the 1940s. She had problems with drugs and alcohol and was arrested several times on narcotics-related charges. She even spent a year in a federal rehabilitation center, but she was unable to end her substance abuse. By the end of the decade, her hard living was taking a toll on her voice. Despite her personal problems, Holiday continued to tour and record in the 1950s. ...Only a few years later, Holiday’s addictions got the best of her. She died in a New York City hospital on July 17, 1959, from alcohol- and drug-related complications. Considered one of the best jazz vocalists of all time, Holiday has been an influence on many other performers who have followed in her footsteps. [© 2006 A&E Television Networks. All rights reserved.]