Yahoo Web Search

Search results

  1. Signature. Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed " Lady Day " by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday made a significant contribution to jazz music and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly influenced by jazz instrumentalists, inspired a new ...

    • Early Life
    • Early Singing Career
    • "Strange Fruit"
    • 1944-1950
    • Movies
    • 1947 Arrest and Comeback
    • 1950s
    • Death
    • References

    Holiday was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1915, a Roman Catholic. She had a difficult childhood, which affected her life and career. Not much is known about her early life, but there are stories about it in her autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues, which was publishedin 1956. Later, it was found out that some parts of this book were wrong. H...

    Holiday later said that in 1930 she worked as a prostitute in a brothel, and was imprisoned for a short time for solicitation (prostitution). In the 1930s in Harlem, New York City, she started singing for tips in night clubs, and got a job at Pod's and Jerry's, a famous Harlem jazz club. In 1933 she was working at a club called Monette's. She was d...

    In the 1930s, Holiday was recording for Columbia Records. She heard of a song called "Strange Fruit". It was based on a poem about lynching written by Abel Meeropol, a Jewish schoolteacher from the Bronx. The poem had been set to music and was performed at teachers' union meetings. It was heard by a night clubowner called Barney Josephson and he to...

    In 1944, Holiday went to work, still with Milt Gabler, at Decca Records. She was 29 years old. Her first songs for Decca were called "Lover Man" and "No More". "Lover Man" was a song written for her. It is about a woman who has never known love, and it became one of her biggest hits. In November 1944, Holiday recorded three songs, "That Ole Devil C...

    In 1947, Holiday was in a film with Louis Armstrong called New Orleans. The musical drama film featured Holiday singing with Armstrong and his band and was directed by Arthur Lubin. Holiday was not pleased that she had to play a maid. In her autobiographyshe said: Holiday was also in the 1950 Universal-International short film 'Sugar Chile' Robinso...

    On May 16, 1947, Holiday was arrested for the possession of narcotics and drugs in her New York apartment. On May 27, 1947, she had to go to court. Holiday pleaded guilty (admitted that she had the drugs) and was sentenced to Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia. Holiday said she never "sang a note" at Alderson even though people wanted he...

    Holiday said that she began using hard drugs in the early 1940s. She had married trombonist Jimmy Monroe on August 25, 1941. When she was still married to Monroe, she started a romantic relationship with trumpeter Joe Guy, who was also her drug dealer. She lived with him as his wife (called a common law wife) and divorced Monroe in 1947. She also s...

    On May 31, 1959, Holiday was taken to the Metropolitan Hospital in New York. She had liver and heart disease. Police officers were at the door to her room. She was arrested for drug possession as she lay dying and her hospital room was raided by the police. They kept guarding her at the hospital until she died from cirrhosis of the liver on July 17...

    Jack Millar, Fine and Mellow: A Discography of Billie Holiday, 1994, ISBN 1-899161-00-7
    Julia Blackburn, With Billie, ISBN 0-375-40610-7
    John Chilton, Billie's Blues: The Billie Holiday Story 1933-1959, ISBN 0-306-80363-1
    Donald Clarke, Billie Holiday: Wishing on the Moon, ISBN 0-306-81136-7
  2. The discography of Billie Holiday, an American jazz singer, consists of 12 studio albums, three live albums, 24 compilations, six box sets, and 38 singles.. Holiday recorded extensively for six labels: Columbia Records (on its subsidiary labels Brunswick Records, Vocalion Records, and Okeh Records), from 1933 through 1942; Commodore Records in 1939 and 1944; Decca Records from 1944 through ...

  3. May 30, 2024 · Billie Holiday (born April 7, 1915, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.—died July 17, 1959, New York City, New York) was an American jazz singer, one of the greatest from the 1930s to the ’50s. Eleanora (her preferred spelling) Harris was the daughter of Clarence Holiday, a professional musician who for a time played guitar with the Fletcher ...

    • The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
  4. Learn about the life and legacy of Billie Holiday, the jazz singer who reinvented modern singing and performance. Explore her discography, collaborations, songs, awards and cultural impact.

  5. Apr 3, 2014 · Holiday married James Monroe in 1941. Already known to drink, Holiday picked up her new husband's habit of smoking opium. The marriage didn't last — they later divorced — but Holiday's ...

  6. People also ask

  7. Jul 17, 2019 · The singer, who was born in Philadelphia, died aged 44 (Rex) W hen Billie Holiday toured England in 1954, she went shopping in Nottingham ahead of her evening concert at the city’s Astoria ...