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              Billie Holiday

   In the world of jazz music there are three voices that will forever be known as the greatest... Sara Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday.

'Lady Day,' as Lester Young would name her, began a rather troubled life on April 7, 1915 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Given the name Eleanora Fagan Gough, she'd change her name to Billie Holiday taking Billie from a favored actress, Billie Dove, and Holiday from the man she was told was her father, Clarence Holiday. Billie actually grew up in Fells Point section of Baltimore, Maryland.  Her house was, reportedly, the very first to have electricity on her block. Her supposed father, Clarence Holiday, was quite absent from Billie's life. The rare occasion Billie saw her 'Father,' she'd be blackmailing him for money with threats of telling his current girlfriend he has a daughter. Recent research has proven, though, that the man listed on her birth certificate, Frank DeViese, really was her father.

Ms. Holiday was raped at the age of 10. As a result she was then sent to a Catholic reform school. Two years later she was released, with help from a family friend.

Billie moved to New York with her mother in 1928. She was recruited by brothels and for a time put in work as a prostitute.  Later facing jail time for it.  She got her start singing in Harlem, during the early 30's. Though little is specifically known about her career's start, it is known she was singing at 'Pod's and Jerry's,' a well known jazz club in Harlem. In 1933, she was working at Monette's (another Harlem jazz club) when she was discovered by John Hammond.

Through Hammond's work, Holiday was able to record with Benny Goodman and was also booked in clubs throughout NY.  'What a Little Moonlight Can Do' and 'Miss Brown To You' were tracks recorded during 1935 that bolstered her climb as a singer and resulted in her own recording contract. 1935-1942 became known as, 'The Columbia period.'

During this time, American music was still fairly segregated, so the songs she recorded were more intended for jukeboxes in establishments with a black audience.  Music has a funny way of transcending, so it wasn't long before her style garnered the attention of musicians across the nation, further boosting her popularity. This was also the time she was introduced to the song/poem, 'Strange Fruit.'  The piece about the lynching of a black man was written by Abel Meeropol (a Jewish School Teacher in the Bronx) under the pseudonym 'Lewis Allen.'  Billie first performed the song at Cafe Society, in Greenwich Village in 1939.

Holiday approached Columbia about recording 'Strange Fruit,' but was refused due to the subject matter and imagery. She then recorded the track for Milt Gabler's 'Commodore' label in 1939. Billie would go on to record two more major sessions for Commodore in 1939 and 1944.  In addition to Fruit, her hits from that era included, 'Fine and Mellow,' 'I Cover the Waterfront' and 'Embraceable You.'

It's during these years that troubles with substance abuse and romantic relationships began to plague her.  She married Jimmy Monroe, a trombonist and small-time drug dealer, on August 25, 1941. While still married to Monroe she also became trumpeter Joe Guy's common law wife. She left Guy and divorced Monroe in 1947. She was then jailed on drug charges in 1947 at the Alderson Federal Institution for Women, in West Virginia. This caused her NYC Caberet Card to be revoked which would prevent her from working in jazz clubs in New York City.

She went on to marry mafia inforcer, Louis McKay on March 28, 1952. He sincerely tried to help her kick her substance abuse issues.  Over the seven years that followed she recorded over 100 songs for the Verve Record label, become open about her bisexuality, have many affairs (including one with Orson Welles), tour Europe, make a televised appearance on BBC in London, and make her final recording for the MGM label.

May 31, 1959 she was hospitalized for liver and heart problems. Eventually, Eleanora Fagin Gough aka Billie Holiday died on July 12, 1959 of cirrhosis of the liver, while under house arrest.