The Billie Holiday Story by Billie Holiday - RYM/Sonemic (2024)

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Why is Billie Holiday so popular? ›

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.

Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer. She is considered by some to be the greatest jazz singer of all time. Holiday is also known by her nickname Lady Day. Holiday was born Eleanora Harris on April 7, 1915, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

On March 28, 1957, Holiday married Louis McKay, a mob enforcer. McKay, like most of the men in her life, was abusive. They were separated at the time of her death, but McKay had plans to start a chain of Billie Holiday vocal studios, on the model of the Arthur Murray dance schools.

With the burst of jazz's popularity in the 1930s, Billie Holiday revolutionized singing with small ensemble vocal jazz called Swing Song. Her innovations would provide the blueprint for generations of singers and instrumentalists to come.

Born Eleanora fa*gan in Baltimore (or some say Philadelphia) in 1915, Holiday's childhood was marred by horrific abuse—despite the best efforts of her beloved mother, Sadie, who was only 13 when she had Holiday. Always a self-starter, Holiday began singing as a child, while cleaning neighbors' homes for money.

I never hurt nobody but myself and that's nobody's business but my own.

Billie Holiday was an American jazz and swing music singer. 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.

Today, Billie Holiday is remembered for her musical masterpieces, her songwriting skills, creativity and courageous views on inequality and justice. Holiday (born Eleanora fa*gan Gough) grew up in jazz-soaked Baltimore of the 1920s.

Billie Holiday, famed jazz singer, died yesterday in Metropolitan Hospital. Her age was 44. The immediate cause of death was given as congestion of the lungs complicated by heart failure. Miss Holiday had lived at 26 West Eighty-seventh Street.

By the time she appeared at Harlem's famous Apollo Theatre, aged 19, she was billing herself as Billie Holiday. The young singer was profane, promiscuous, alcoholic, unpredictable and fearless.

Why did Billie Holiday change her name? ›

Thus, from seemingly nowhere, a new star was born out of Eleanora fa*gan who had long since changed her name to Billie Holiday – Billie in honor of her favorite actress and Baltimorean Billie Dove and Holiday due to her infatuation with her erratic father and the recognition the name could earn her in Harlem's nightlife ...

Detailed map of New Saint Raymond's Cemetery in Bronx NY. Holiday's burial site is in the St. Paul section, Row 56, Grave #29. Grave marker of Billie Holiday.

Early musical influences for Billie came from listening to records by Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong, with whom she would later star in her first and only film feature, New Orleans (1947). In Billie's composition, “Billie's Blues” released in 1936, one can hear the influence of Bessie Smith.

Living in extreme poverty, Holiday dropped out of school in the fifth grade and found a job running errands in a brothel.

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.

Eilish first caught our ears in 2016 when the then-13-year-old uploaded "ocean eyes" to SoundCloud. The tender ballad — written and produced by her brother and steadfast collaborator, FINNEAS — was shared with Eilish's dance teacher with the intention of using it as a choreography track.

The spare, bass-driven arrangement of "Billie Jean" helped pioneer what one critic called "sleek, post-soul pop music". It also introduced a more paranoid lyrical style for Jackson, a trademark of his later music. "Billie Jean" was awarded honors including two Grammy Awards and an American Music Award.

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.