Holiday, Billie (1915-1959), won recognition as the most moving jazz singer of her day. She was admired for the bittersweet quality of her voice. She also gained praise for her phrasing (singing style) that had much in common with the solos of the great jazz musicians. Although Holiday was often described as a blues singer, she was mainly an interpreter of popular songs .
Holiday was born on April 7, 1915, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her real name was Eleanora Fagan. She was raised by her mother in Baltimore, Maryland. Holiday described the hardships of her childhood in Lady Sings the Blues (1956), an inaccurate but interesting autobiography. She made her first recordings in 1933, with the American bandleader Benny Goodman . Her most distinctive work was recorded between 1936 and 1944. In these recordings, she was often accompanied by such great American jazz musicians as Count Basie , Roy Eldridge , Teddy Wilson , and Lester Young . Among her most notable songs are “Strange Fruit” (1939), which protested the lynching of African Americans; and “God Bless the Child” (1942), written by Holiday and Arthur Herzog, Jr.
After 1950, drug addiction increasingly affected Holiday’s health and her career. She died on July 17, 1959. In 2000, Holiday was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a performer who had an early influence on rock music .
