Billie Holiday is one of America's most iconic jazz musicians. Her unique vocal style had a mesmerizing effect on people due to its raw emotional intensity. She channeled her experiences into her music, drawing fans into her vulnerability. Life was not easy for Billie, who was arrested several times and never found someone to properly love her.
Billie endured a tragic childhood, racial discrimination, abusive relationships, and a substance abuse problem, yet she still managed to succeed and become one of the most influential jazz musicians of all time.
She Was Born To An Unwed Teenage Mom
Billie Holiday was born on April 7, 1915, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her birth name was Elinore Harris. Her mother, Sadie, was an unwed teenage mother. It's believed Billie's father was Clarence Holiday, a somewhat successful jazz guitarist who played with people such as Fletcher Henderson.
Billie and her mom moved to a poor area in Baltimore, Maryland, when Billie was still a toddler. According to some reports, Sadie ended up marrying Clarence, but the marriage didn't last very long. Billie did not see her father very much when she was growing up.
She Frequently Skipped School & Was Sent To A Facility For Troubled Girls
Sadie struggled to take care of her daughter after her marriage failed, and sometimes other people cared for the little girl. When Billie started school, she frequently didn't show up, and she and her mother went to court over Billie's truancy. In January 1925, when she was nine years old Billie was sent to the House of Good Shepherd.
The facility housed African-American girls who were struggling. Billie was one of the youngest girls at the school, but she didn't stay there very long. Seven months later in August 1925, she went back to live with her mother.
She Was Assaulted At Age 10
Unfortunately, things got worse for Billie. When she was just 10 years old, she was sexually assaulted and she returned to the House of the Good Shepherd in 1926, according to the biography, Billie Holiday: Wishing on the Moon. Administrators at the reform school were not kind, and they were known to dole out harsh punishments to the girls.
The experience left a terrible, long-lasting impression on Billie. She explained in her 1956 autobiography Lady Sings the Blues, "For years I used to dream about it and wake up hollering and screaming. It takes years to get over it."
She Found A Way To Support Herself
Billie and her mother started a new chapter in their lives in 1928. They moved to New York City, and Billie was assaulted again at the age of 14. The perpetrator only received a three-month jail sentence. Billie only had a fifth-grade education and did not have a lot of support from those around her.
Her troubled experiences led her down a grim path. She wound up working on the streets in Harlem for a short period of time. She spent a few years supporting herself with the work before police arrested her for solicitation.
Her Voice Changed Her Life
After she was released from jail, Billie looked for other ways to earn an income. She got her first paying gig as a performer at a club, but it didn't go exactly as she had planned. "I stopped in the Log Cabin Club run by Jerry Preston," Billie recalled. "Told him I was a dancer. He said to dance. I tried it. He said I stunk."
She added, "I told him I could sing. He said sing … I sang. The customers stopped drinking." Over the years Billie comforted herself by listening to music by icons such as Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong and was heavily influenced by their songs.
Billie's Emotional Performances Struck A Chord With People
Preston gave her a job. Billie earned $18 a week, and before long she gained a reputation in Harlem for being a talented singer. She had a very distinctive voice that was difficult to characterize but was quite compelling. However, one problem was that she had a limited vocal range, and she didn't always project very well.
This became a problem later in her career, particularly after many years of substance abuse. Despite these issues, Billie's intonation, phrasing and emotional performances were inexorable.
Her Vocal Style Has Been Described As 'Steel-Edged And Yet Soft Inside'
Billie was very unique, and people loved her for it. A critic from DownBeat magazine described her singing as "steel-edged and yet soft inside; a voice that was almost unbearably wise in disillusion and yet still childlike, again at the center." At the time, her songs were very unusual.
According to bandleader Artie Shaw, Billie's vocal style "has been copied and imitated by so many singers of popular music that the average listener of today cannot realize how original she actually was."
In The '30s, She Met Some People Who Altered The Course Of Her Life
When Billie started singing in local clubs she didn't use the name, Elinor. She chose "Billie" after film star Billie Dove. Producer John Hammond discovered Billie when she was 18 years old, performing in Harlem. He was able to find her some recording work with clarinetist and bandleader Benny Goodman, who went on to become a jazz icon.
Billie also met Lester Young, a jazz tenor saxophonist, and occasional clarinetist. The pair would become lifelong friends and collaborators. Young dubbed Billie "Lady Day," she called him "Prez," and the pair went on a European tour with Count Basie's orchestra. At the time, Billie earned $14 a day, the most she'd ever made.
She Made History In 1938
In the meantime, she recorded vocals for several Goodman songs, including "Your Mother's Son-In-Law" and 1934 top ten 10 hit, "Riffin' the Scotch." She then recorded with jazz pianist Teddy Wilson.
In 1935, Billie released several songs, such as "What a Little Moonlight Can Do" and "Miss Brown to You." She also appeared with Duke Ellington in the film Symphony in Black. In 1938, she worked with Artie Shaw and his orchestra. It was a groundbreaking moment in history. At the time, Billie was one of the first female African-American vocalists to collaborate with a white orchestra.
At One Point, A Manager Insisted Billie Make Her Face Look Blacker
In the 1930s, Billie struggled with racial discrimination while touring the United States. Once, when she and Count Basie were in Detroit, a theater manager demanded Billie darken her complexion because he feared the audience would think she was white and get upset that she was singing with black musicians.
In addition, when she toured the segregationist South with Artie Shaw, the band had a hard time finding a restaurant where they were all allowed to enjoy a meal together. People did not like seeing white and black people mix.
The Tune 'Strange Fruit' About The Lynching Of Two Black Men Was The '30s Equivalent Of A Viral Hit
Racial discrimination was the background of one of Billie's most haunting and popular songs. The tune is perhaps one of the most disturbing in American history. "Strange Fruit" was based on a poem by Abel Meeropol, a Jewish high school teacher. Meeropol was appalled by the lynching of two black men when he wrote it.
A Greenwich Village club owner showed Billie the song. Initially Billie didn't want to sing it, and Columbia Records didn't want to record it. The song features lyrics such as: Pastoral scene of the gallant south/ The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth/ Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh/ Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.
Billie Feared Audiences Didn't Understand The Meaning Of 'Strange Fruit'
Billie wound up recording the song for Commodore, and it became one of her signature ballads and her biggest seller. Some radio stations banned the tune, which only catapulted its success. It also helped to have the popular song "Fine and Mellow" on the flip side of the record.
Many times Billie ended her show by singing "Strange Fruit," but she wasn't convinced that her audiences were completely aware of its meaning. She once told a DJ in Philadelphia, "They'll ask me to 'sing that sexy song about the people swinging'."
She Sung Frequently About Troubled Relationships & Had A Short-Lived Marriage To A Trombonist
Over the course of her career, Billie was known to sing songs about troubled relationships, including "T'ain't Nobody's Business If I Do" and "My Man." The music often gave insight into her personal romances. Several songs often featured themes of abuse.
In 1941, Billie married a man named James Monroe. Billie and Jimmy, who was a trombonist, had a stormy marriage. The couple's relationship didn't last very long, and part of the problem was Jimmy had a problem with opium, which led to their divorce.
Soon Drugs & Alcohol Took Over Billie's Life
Billie was no stranger to addiction herself. She had a drinking problem and was eventually introduced to heroin (it's unclear whether her husband gave her the drug or a later boyfriend, a trumpeter named Joe Guy, did). Despite her drug problems, Billie's career flourished in the 1940s.
In 1945, she recorded the hit "Lover Man." Unfortunately, her mother also died that year, and Billie consoled herself with alcohol and drugs. She tried to get help for her heroin addiction but was arrested for drug possession in 1947. She spent 10 months in a federal prison.
Following A Stint In Jail, Billie Wasn't Allowed To Play In Cabarets & Clubs
Billie's drug use adversely impacted her career. After she was released from prison, she was prohibited from performing in cabarets and clubs because she was denied a "cabaret card." However, she was allowed to perform at concert halls, and shortly after leaving prison she had a sold-out show at Carnegie Hall.
She also played in some other big U.S. cities and toured Europe. Eventually, New York club owner John Levy got her to play at New York's Club Ebony. He became Billie's manager, and they started dating. But he was an opportunist who used her to get ahead. Then in 1949, Billie was arrested for narcotics again, but she was acquitted.
Her Destructive Lifestyle Affected Her Voice, But Fans Were Drawn Into Its Fragility
Billie kept making music throughout the '50s. In fact, nearly one-third of all her songs were made during this decade. Unfortunately, her voice was not as strong as it was when she was younger. Her vocal style became rougher and more vulnerable. Yet, it was still very raw and compelling to audiences.
Some believe her fragility only added to her performances. In 1954, she embarked on a successful European tour. Two years later, she wrote her autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues. Billie was not in good shape when she wrote it and claimed never to have read the final copy.
She Married A Mafia Enforcer Who Took Advantage Of Her Success
In March 1957, Billie married mafia enforcer Louis McKay in Mexico. McKay was not a good man. He was abusive and also used Billie's success to open some recording studios and advance his own career. Also around this time, Billie reconnected with her old friend Lester Young, whom she had a falling out with in the late '30s.
The pair teamed up for a rare television appearance. They performed "Fine and Yellow" together. Young would die two years later alone in a hotel room. The cause was chronic alcoholism.
She Was Hospitalized & Arrested For Drug Possession Shortly Before Her Death
Towards the end of her career, Billie's record sales dropped. In 1958 she recorded "Lady in Satin" with the Ray Ellis Orchestra for Columbia Records. Her voice was noticeably rougher, and again it demonstrated the raw emotional intensity that she was known for.
Billie performed for the last time on May 25, 1959, in New York City. Shortly afterward, she was hospitalized for heart and liver problems. Worse, she was arrested for possession while in the hospital after heroin was allegedly found in her room. A guard was stationed outside, and her record player was removed.
Her Estranged Husband Profited Financially Following Her Death
On July 17, 1959, Billie died from complications related to drugs and alcohol. She was 44 years old and had just 70 cents in the bank and $750 strapped to her leg. Over 3,000 people attended her funeral at St. Paul the Apostle Roman Catholic Church on July 21, 1959. Numerous jazz stars attended the somber event, including Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa, Tony Scott, Buddy Rogers, and John Hammond.
Billie and her husband, Louis, were estranged but not divorced when she died, and the singer didn't have a will. Under New York law, Louis inherited her estate, including her royalties. He earned between $15,000 to $20,000 annually from her royalties before his death.
She Was Finally Recognized For Her Musical Contributions Posthumously
After Billie died, Louis married a woman named Bernice. When Louis died, the court awarded Bernice a one-third share of Louis' estate, meaning a portion of Billie's royalties were given to the woman her husband married after she died and that Billie never even knew.
Posthumously, Billie received four Grammy awards for Best Historical Album. She was also inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1973,and Diana Ross played her in the 1972 film Lady Sings the Blues. Billie's estate was estimated to be worth $14 million in 2014.
