Billie Holiday Billie Holiday Jazz Singer Born April

Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday – Jazz Singer • Born April 7, 1915 in Philadelphia PA • Grew up in jazz talent-rich Baltimore in the 1920 s • She has one of the greatest jazz voices of all time • Died July 17, 1959 in New York City, New York

https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=h 4 Zyu. ULy 9 zs

Lady of Many Names • Born as Eleanora Fagan Gough • Changed her name to “Billie Holiday” because of her admiration for film star “Billie Dove. ” • She was known as “Lady Day”

A Rough Start • Her father abandoned the family early • Her mother moved away and she was left with mean relatives • She worked small jobs with little pay • She had very little schooling

Discovering Fame • She made her singing debut in Harlem nightclubs • She never underwent any technical training and never learned how to read music • She would move from one club to another, working for tips • Holiday was spotted by John Hammond and cut her first record as part of a studio group led by Benny Goodman

Honors • Awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987 • The United States Postal Service introduced a Billie Holiday postage stamp in 1994 • She ranked No. 6 on VH 1's 100 Greatest Women in Rock n' Roll in 1999 • She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000

A statue of Holiday at the corner of Lafayette and Pennsylvania Avenues in Baltimore

Resources • http: //www. billieholiday. com/ • https: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Billie_Holiday • http: //www. pbs. org/jazz/biography/artist_id_holiday_billie. htm