Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday (April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959), born Eleanora Fagan and later nicknamed Lady Day (see "Jazz royalty" regarding similar nicknames), was an American jazz singer, a seminal influence on jazz and pop singers, and generally regarded as one of the greatest female jazz vocalists.

Biography

Early life

Photograph of a two-year-old Holiday

Billie Holiday had a difficult childhood, which greatly affected her life and career. Much of her childhood is clouded by conjecture and legend, some of it propagated by her autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues, published in 1956. This account is known to contain many inaccuracies.

Her professional pseudonym was taken from Billie Dove, an actress she admired, and Clarence Holiday, her probable father. At the outset of her career, she spelled her last name "Halliday," presumably to distance herself from her neglectful father, but eventually changed it back to "Holiday."

Holiday's grandfather was one of 17 children of an enslaved black woman in Virginia and a white Irish plantation owner. There are conflicting reports about whether her thirteen-year-old mother, Sadie Fagan, and fifteen-year-old father, Clarence Holiday, ever married, but if they did, they did not live together for any significant period. Clarence Holiday played guitar and banjo professionally and joined jazz-band leader Fletcher Henderson in the early 1930s, so he was on the road much of the time and was apparently not a family man.

There is some controversy regarding Holiday's paternity, stemming from a copy of her birth certificate in the Baltimore archives that lists the father as a "Frank DeViese". Some historians consider this an anomaly, probably inserted by a hospital or government worker . Billie grew up in the poor section of Baltimore, Maryland. According to her autobiography, her house was the first on their street to have electricity. Her parents married when she was three, but they soon divorced, leaving her to be raised largely by her mother and other relatives. At the age of 11, she reported that she had been raped. That claim, combined with her frequent truancy, resulted in her being sent to The House of the Good Shepherd, a Catholic reform school, in 1925. It was only through the assistance of a family friend that she was released two years later. Scarred by these experiences, Holiday moved to New York City with her mother in 1928. In 1929 Holiday's mother discovered a neighbor, Wilbert Rich, in the act of raping Billie; Rich was sentenced to three months in jail.

Early singing career

According to Billie Holiday's accounts, she was recruited by a brothel, worked as a prostitute, and was eventually imprisoned for a short time. It was in Harlem in the early 1930s that she started singing for tips in various night clubs. According to legend, penniless and facing eviction, she sang "Trav'lin All Alone" in a local club and reduced the audience to tears. She later worked at various clubs for tips, ultimately landing at Pod's and Jerry's, a well known Harlem jazz club. Her early work history is hard to verify, though accounts say she was working at a club named Monette's in 1933 when she was discovered by talent scout John Hammond.

Hammond arranged for Holiday to make her recording debut on a 1933 Benny Goodman date, and Goodman was also on hand in 1935, when she continued her recording career with a group led by pianist Teddy Wilson. Their first collaboration included "What A Little Moonlight Can Do" and "Miss Brown To You", which helped to establish Billie Holiday as a major vocalist. She began recording under her own name a year later, producing a series of extraordinary performances with groups comprising the Swing Era's finest musicians.

Among the musicians who accompanied her frequently was tenor saxophonist Lester Young, who had been a boarder at her mother's house in 1934 and with whom she had a special rapport. "Well, I think you can hear that on some of the old records, you know. Some time I'd sit down and listen to 'em myself, and it sound like two of the same voices, if you don't be careful, you know, or the same mind, or something like that." Young nicknamed her "Lady Day" and she, in turn, dubbed him "Prez." In the late 1930s, she also had brief stints as a big band vocalist with Count Basie (1937) and Artie Shaw (1938). The latter association placed her among the first black women to work with a white orchestra, an arrangement that went against the temper of the times.

The Commodore Years and "Strange Fruit"

Holiday was recording for Columbia in the late 1930s when she was introduced to "Strange Fruit," a song based on a poem about lynching written by Abel Meeropol, a Jewish schoolteacher from the Bronx. Meeropol used the pseudonym "Lewis Allen" for the poem, which was set to music and performed at teachers' union meetings. It was eventually heard by Barney Josephson, proprietor of Café Society, an integrated nightclub in Greenwich Village, who introduced it to Holiday. She performed it at the club in 1939, with some trepidation, fearing possible retaliation. Holiday later said that the imagery in "Strange Fruit" reminded her of her father's death, and that this played a role in her persistence to perform it. In a 1958 interview, she also bemoaned the fact that many people did not grasp the song's message: "They'll ask me to 'sing that sexy song about the people swinging'," she said.

When her producers at Columbia found the subject matter too sensitive, Commodore Records' Milt Gabler agreed to record it for his label. That was done in April, 1939 and "Strange Fruit" remained in her repertoire for twenty years. She later recorded it again for Verve. While the Commodore release did not get airplay, the controversial song sold well, but Gabler attributes that mostly to the record's other side, "Fine and Mellow," which was a juke box hit.

Decca Records and "Lover Man"

In addition to owning Commodore Records, Milt Gabler was an A&R man for Decca Records, and he signed Holiday to the label in 1944. Her first recording for Decca, "Lover Man," was a song written especially for her by Jimmy Davis, Roger "Ram" Ramirez, and Jimmy Sherman. Although its lyrics describe a woman who has never known love ("I long to try something I never had"), its theme—a woman longing for a missing lover—and its refrain, "Lover man, oh, where can you be?", struck a chord in wartime America and the record became one of her biggest hits.

Holiday continued to record for Decca until 1950, including sessions with the Duke Ellington and Count Basie orchestras, and two duets with Louis Armstrong. Holiday's Decca recordings featured big bands and, sometimes, strings, contrasting her intimate small group Columbia accompaniments. Some of the songs from her Decca repertoire became signatures, including "Don't Explain" and "Good Morning Heartache".

Later life

Her personal life was as turbulent as the songs she sang. Holiday stated that she began using hard drugs in the early 1940s. She married trombonist Jimmy Monroe on August 25, 1941. While still married to Monroe, she took up with trumpeter Joe Guy, her drug dealer, as his common law wife. She finally divorced Monroe in 1947, and also split with Guy. In 1947 she was jailed on drug charges and served eight months at the Alderson Federal Correctional Institution for Women in West Virginia. Her New York City Cabaret Card was subsequently revoked, which kept her from working in clubs there for the remaining 12 years of her life, except when she played at the Ebony Club in 1948, where she opened under the permission of John Levy.

By the 1950s, Holiday's drug abuse, drinking, and relations with abusive men led to deteriorating health. As evidenced by her later recordings, Holiday's voice coarsened and did not project the vibrance it once had. However, she had retained--and, perhaps, strengthened--the emotional impact of her delivery.

On March 28, 1952, Holiday married Louis McKay, an opportunistic failed pimp. McKay, like most of the men in her life, was abusive, but he did try to get her off drugs. They were separated at the time of her death, but McKay had plans to start a chain of Billie Holiday vocal studios, a la the Arthur Murray dance schools. Holiday also had a relationship with Orson Welles.

Her late recordings on Verve constitute about a third of her commercial recorded legacy and are as well remembered as her earlier work for the Columbia, Commodore and Decca labels. In later years her voice became more fragile, but it never lost the edge that had always made it so distinctive. On November 10, 1956, she performed before a packed audience at Carnegie Hall, a major accomplishment for any artist, especially a black artist of the segregated period of American history. Her performance of "Fine And Mellow" on CBS's The Sound of Jazz program is memorable for her interplay with her long-time friend Lester Young; both were less than two years from death. (see the clip here)

Holiday first toured Europe in 1954, as part of a Leonard Feather package that also included Buddy DeFranco and Red Norvo. When she returned, almost five years later, she made one of her last television appearances for Granada's "Chelsea at Nine," in London. Her final studio recordings were made for MGM in 1959, with lush backing from Ray Ellis and his Orchestra, who had also accompanied her on Columbia's Lady in Satin album the previous year — see below). The MGM sessions were released posthumously on a self-titled album, later re-titled and re-released as Last Recordings. Her final public appearance, a benefit concert at the Phoenix Theater in New York's Greenwich Village, took place on May 25, 1959. According to the evening's masters of ceremony, jazz critic Leonard Feather and TV host Steve Allen, she was only able to make it through two songs, one of which was "Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do."

On May 31, 1959, she was taken to Metropolitan Hospital in New York suffering from liver and heart disease. On July 12, she was placed under house arrest at the hospital for possession, despite evidence suggesting the drugs may have been planted on her. Holiday remained under police guard at the hospital until 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 progressively swindled out of her earnings, and she died with only $0.70 in the bank and $750 (a tabloid fee) on her person.

Billie Holiday is interred in Saint Raymond's Cemetery, Bronx, New York.

Impact

File:Billie holiday1994.jpg

US Postage Stamp 1994

Her impact on other artists was undeniable, however; even after her death she continues to influence singers. In 1972, Diana Ross portrayed her in a film that was loosely based on Lady Sings the Blues, the autobiography she co-authored with William Dufty. Although the Hollywood treatment strayed far from the true story, it was a commercial success and earned Ms. Ross a Best Actress nomination. In 1987, Billie Holiday was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, in 1994, the United States Postal Service introduced a Billie Holiday postage stamp, she ranked #6 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Rock n' Roll in 1999, and she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. Over the years, there have been many recorded tributes to Billie Holiday, including "Angel of Harlem," a 1988 release by the group U2.

Although her unique style has never been successfully duplicated, Billie Holiday inspired many singers and continues to be regarded as one of the jazz idiom's most important vocalists.

Voice

Billie Holiday photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1949

Her distinct delivery made Billie Holiday's performances instantly recognizable throughout her career. Years of abuse eventually altered the texture of her voice and gave it a prepossessing fragility, but the emotion with which she imbued each song remained intact.. Her last major recording, a 1958 album entitled Lady in Satin, features the backing of a 40-piece orchestra conducted and arranged by Ray Ellis, who said of the album in 1997:

I would say that the most emotional moment was her listening to the playback of "I'm a Fool to Want You." There were tears in her eyes...After we finished the album I went into the control room and listened to all the takes. I must admit I was unhappy with her performance, but I was just listening musically instead of emotionally. It wasn't until I heard the final mix a few weeks later that I realized how great her performance really was.

Music samples

Template:Multi-listen start Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen end More music by Billie Holiday:

• Sophisticated Lady (Duke Ellington) [1]
• Miss Brown to You (Leo Robin, Ralph Rainger, Richard Whiting) [2]
• Summertime (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) [3]
• Strange Fruit [4]
• I'm Pulling Through [5]
• If I Were You [6]
• You Go To My Head (Haven Gillespie, J. Fred Coots) [7]
• Body and Soul (Edward Heyman, Frank Eyton, Johnny Green, Robert Sour) [8]

References in literature

Billie Holiday is referred to in The Trumpet of the Swan, along with Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong as one of three siblings, one of whom, Louie, is the main character. She is also referenced in Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Frank O'Hara's 1959 poem "The Day Lady Died" is written in tribute to her.

References by other musicians

Christina Aguilera's song, "Back In The Day", name checks "Lady Day".

The song "My Only Friend" of The Magnetic Fields refers to her and to how much she would understand the interpreter's heartache.

The song "Lady" by Regina Spektor refers to her harsh life.

The song "Angel of Harlem" by U2 pays homage to Billie Holiday.

Saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter wrote a ballad named "Lady Day".

French rapper Oxmo Puccino pays homage to Billie Holiday in his whole album "Lipopette Bar".

The song "Lady Day And John Coltrane" by Gil Scott-Heron is a tribute to Billie Holiday and John Coltrane

The song "Fell Down The Stairs" by Tilly and the Wall mentions Billie Holiday.

The song "Thug Mansion" by 2Pac references Billie Holiday in a name check: "Then some lady named Billy Holiday sang, sittin', and kickin it with Malcom (X) till the day came".

Lou Reed's third solo album, Berlin, had a song about her called, "Lady Day." It was also on his Rock and Roll Animal album as well, and was the only song from that aformentioned Berlin album covered live.

Discography

Holiday recorded extensively for four labels:

• Columbia Records (1933-1942, 1958)
• Commodore Records (1939, 1944)
• Decca Records (1944-1950)
• Verve Records (1952-1959)

Studio recordings

Note: To avoid repetition (and a very long discography) most of Holiday's individual albums are omitted, as almost all the material from these albums is available on the box sets listed below.

Box sets:

• Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia (1933-1944)
• The Complete Commodore Recordings (1939, 1944)
  • For collectors not interested in non-released studio takes, The Commodore Master Takes features only the released versions of Holiday's Commodore recordings.
• The Complete Decca Recordings (1944-1950)
• The Complete Billie Holiday on Verve (1945-1959)

Other studio recordings:

• Lady in Satin (Columbia, 1958)
• New Orleans: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1946) (Giants of Jazz, 1983)
• The Sound of Jazz (Columbia, 1958)

Live recordings

Many live recordings, of varying quality, are also available. A selection is listed below:

• At Monterey 1958 (1958)
• Billie Holiday in Europe 1954-1958 (1954-1958)
• The Complete 1951 Storyville Club Sessions (1951)
• Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday at Newport (1957) (Holiday's performance is included in the Verve box set; see below)
• Lady Day: The Storyville Concerts [Vol. 1 and 2] (1951, 1953, 1959)
• A Midsummer Night's Jazz at Stratford '57 (1957)
• Summer of '49 (1948-1949)

The Columbia box set includes live recordings of Holiday's performances with the Count Basie Orchestra (1937) and Benny Goodman (1939), and her performance at the 1944 Esquire Jazz Concert.

The Verve box set includes the following live recordings:

• Jazz at the Philharmonic performances (1945-1947)
• Jazz Club USA (1954)
• 1956 Carnegie Hall concerts, with a narrator reading portions of her autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues
• 1957 Newport Jazz Festival
• Seven Ages of Jazz Festival (1958)

References

• 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
• Angela Y. Davis, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday, ISBN 0-679-77126-3
• Leslie Gourse, The Billie Holiday Companion: Seven Decades of Commentary, ISBN 0-02-864613-4
• Farah Jasmine Griffin, If You Can't Be Free, Be A Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday, ISBN 0-684-86808-3
• Billie Holiday with William Dufty, Lady Sings the Blues, ISBN 0-14-006762-0
• Chris Ingham, Billie Holiday, ISBN 1-56649-170-3
• Burnett James, Billie Holiday, ISBN 0-946771-05-7
• Jack Millar, Fine and Mellow: A Discography of Billie Holiday, 1994, ISBN 1-899161-00-7
• Stuart Nicholson, Billie Holiday, ISBN 1-55553-303-5

External links

• Official Site
• Official Billie Holiday @ Sony BMG
• Billie Holiday's Music - Pure Vintage
• Brief biography at Jazz (PBS)
• Brief biography at American Masters (PBS)
• The African American Registry - Billie Holiday
• Billie Holiday Timeline
• Billie Holiday's Gravesite
• Billie Holiday’s Small Band Recordings of 1935-1939

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