How did billie holiday die
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- Billie's Story -
Billie Holiday, born April 7, 1915 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was a superstar of her day. She first rose to prominence in the 1930's with a unique style that reinvented the conventions of modern singing and performance. More than 80 years after making her first recording Billie's legacy continues to embody what is elegant and cool in contemporary music. Holiday's complicated life and her genre-defining autobiography “Lady Sings the Blues” made her a cultural icon. The evocative, soulful voice which she boldly put forth as a force for good, turned any song she sang into her own. 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. In her early teens, the beginning part of her “apprenticeship” was spent singing along with the records of iconoclasts Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong. In 1929 Billie's mother Sadie Fagan moved to New York in search of better jobs. Young Eleanora soo
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Billie Holiday, 1915-1959
"I don't think I ever sing the same way twice. The blues is sort of a mixed-up thing. You just have to feel it. Anything I do sing is part of my life."
The Child: Eleanora “Billie Holiday” Fagan
Eleanora Fagan, the soulful songstress we know today as Billie Holiday, was born to Sarah Julia “Sadie” Fagan and Clarence Halliday in Philadelphia, PA. Billie's mother, Sadie, did not have support from her own parents who lived in Baltimore, so she made arrangements for young Billie to stay with her Baltimorean half sister, Eva Miller & Eva’s mother-in-law Martha Miller.
For the first 10 years of her life, Billie Holiday was cared for mostly by others, because her mother had taken a traveling job with the railroad.
Billie frequently skipped school and when she was 9 years old, she was sent to a Catholic “reform” school. She was released later that year (1925) into the custody of her mother. Soon after, Billie’s mother moved to New York City for employment, and Billie joined her there in 1929.
Though Billie’s life was not an easy one, s
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Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday | |
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Billie Holiday, 1949 | |
| Birth name | Eleanora Fagan |
| Also known as | Lady Day, Queen of Song |
| Born | (1915-04-07)April 7, 1915 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Origin | Harlem, New York, U.S. |
| Died | July 17, 1959(1959-07-17) (aged 44) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz, vocal jazz, jazz blues, torch songs, ballads, swing |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Instruments | voice |
| Years active | 1933—1959 |
| Labels | Columbia Commodore Decca Verve MGM |
Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an Americanjazz singer and songwriter. She was also called "Lady Day", a nickname that her friend and musical partner Lester Young gave her. Holiday was a very important influence on jazz and pop singing. The way that she sang was similar to the way jazz musicians played their instruments. She was admired for her very personal and intimate way of singing. Critic John Bush wrote that she "changed the art of American pop vocals forever."[1]
She co-wrote some songs which have become jazz stan
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