Viet Nguyen

Professor Fumasoli

Second Extra Credit

Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday’s grandfather was one of the seventeen children of a

black Virginia slave owned by a white Irish plantation owner. Her mother

gave birth to her at the age of 13, on April 7, 1915. The early life for

Holiday was harsh due to an irresponsible father who abandoned the family

early and refused to acknowledge Holiday as his daughter until after her first

success in Jazz music. Holiday’s childhood was unpleasant and harsh

without a father, yet this was not all that it is to her life. Her mother left her

to one of her relatives and moved to New York in searching of a new life.

According to Holiday in on one of the interviews, her relatives mistreated

her in different ways. Tons of work was place on her shoulder and physical

abuses happened from time to times.

In 1928 Holiday decided to move to New York and joined her mother.

Two years later, in 1930, Holiday received a job as a night singer at a small

club in Brooklyn where she started to gain a bit of attention. A year later she

was interviewed and received a job at Pods’ and Jerry’s (a Harlem club well

known to jazz enthusiasts) where she catches the attention of producer John
Hammond. Shortly after their encounter Hammond arranged three recording

sessions for Holiday with Benny Goodman. Soon her name was recognized

in the “Jazz World.” Times goes by and after 1935 Holiday’s popularity

spread throughout America.

With a popular name that she earned, Holiday took her chance and

joined Count Basie in 1937 and Artie Shaw in 1938, which is so significance

in the sense that she became one of the first black singers to be featured with

a white orchestra. During this period of time, Holiday did many recording

that earned her a famous name. Records such as “Strange Fruit, Gloomy

Sunday, and Lover Man” put her name on the front page and catch a lot of

attention from the intellectuals of the time. Along with her popularity was

her destruction. Holiday started using hard drugs and was put on publicized

trial. Although, Holiday continued to sing and records but it was no longer

with her old skill and spirit.

On July 17, 1959, (an unforgettable date to the jazz world) Billie

Holiday passed away. Yet, she left a legacy (most of her important work is

found between 1936 and 1944) for the jazz world that later influenced many

jazz singer. Billie Holiday died, but her name remained in the heart of many

jazz musicians and among many of us today.