Billie Holiday
Traditional pop music, Musical Artist
1915 – 1959
Who was Billie Holiday?
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo.
Critic John Bush wrote that Holiday "changed the art of American pop vocals forever." She co-wrote only a few songs, but several of them have become jazz standards, notably "God Bless the Child", "Don't Explain", "Fine and Mellow", and "Lady Sings the Blues". She also became famous for singing "Easy Living", "Good Morning Heartache", and "Strange Fruit", a protest song which became one of her standards and was made famous with her 1939 recording. Music critic Robert Christgau called her "uncoverable, possibly the greatest singer of the century".
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- Born
- Apr 7, 1915
Philadelphia - Also known as
- Billy Holliday
- Eleanora Fagan Gough
- Elinore Harris
- billie_holiday
- Lady Day
- Eleanora Fagan
- Parents
- Religion
- Catholicism
- Nationality
- United States of America
- Profession
- Lived in
- Baltimore
- Died
- Jul 17, 1959
New York City
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
Citation
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"Billie Holiday." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/billie_holiday>.
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