Billie Holiday

Born Eleanor Flagan on April 7, 1915 in Philladelphia, Pennsylvania, "Lady Day" was born to a 13 year old mother who shortly after moved to Baltimore. Working as a whore in a brothel in 1930, Bille was jailed for a short period of time before she started her singing career. Holiday was recording for Columbia in the late 1930s and recorded the famous "Strange Fruit" uner the Commodore Records label because her company garnered the lyrics too controversial. Billie went on to record a number of hits throughout the 1940's and mada a great name for herself as an American jazz singer and songwriter. ‎Holiday made one major film appearance, opposite Louis Armstrong in New Orleans (1947) in which she played a maid(later expressing her unhappiness about it). Holiday stated that she began using hard drugs in the early 1940s. By the 1950s, Holiday's drug abuse, drinking, and relationships with abusive men caused her health to deteriorate. Her later recordings showed the effects on her voice, as it grew coarse and no longer projected the vibrancy it once had. In spite of this, however, she retained—and perhaps strengthened—the emotional impact of her delivery. She died from cirrhosis of the liver on July 17, 1959 at the age of 44. In the final years of her life, she had been swindled out of her earnings, and she died with $0.70 in the bank and $750 (a tabloid fee) on her person. She was arrested for drug possession as she lay dying, and her hospital room was raided by authorities. Although she went away from here under terrible circumstances, the legacy Lady Day leaves on us is undeniable.

Billie Holiday, pioneer in jazz, film, and music.



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