This article is about the singer. For her self-titled 1954 album, see Billie Holiday (album). For the 1959 album originally titled Billie Holiday, see Last Recording.
Billie Holiday
Holiday with her dog, Mister c. 1947
Born
Eleanora Fagan
(1915-04-07)April 7, 1915
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died
July 17, 1959(1959-07-17) (aged 44)
New York City, U.S.
Resting place
Saint Raymond's Cemetery
Other names
Lady Day
Occupation
Singer
Years active
c. 1930–1959
Spouses
Jimmy Monroe
(m. 1941; div. 1947)
Joe Guy
(m. 1951; div. 1957)
Louis McKay
(m. 1957)
Musical career
Genres
Jazz
swing
blues
traditional pop
Discography
Billie Holiday discography
Labels
Brunswick
Vocalion
Okeh
Bluebird
Commodore
Capitol
Decca
Aladdin
Verve
Columbia
MGM
Website
billieholiday.com
Musical artist
Signature
Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday made a significant contribution to jazz music and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly influenced by jazz instrumentalists, inspired a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. She was known for her vocal delivery and improvisational skills.[1]
After a turbulent childhood, Holiday began singing in nightclubs in Harlem, where she was heard by producer John Hammond, who liked her voice. She signed a recording contract with Brunswick in 1935. Collaborations with Teddy Wilson produced the hit "What a Little Moonlight Can Do", which became a jazz standard. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Holiday had mainstream success on labels such as Columbia and Decca. By the late 1940s, however, she was beset with legal troubles and drug abuse. After a short prison sentence, she performed at a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall.
She was a successful concert performer throughout the 1950s with two further sold-out shows at Carnegie Hall. Because of personal struggles and an altered voice, her final recordings were met with mixed reaction but were mild commercial successes. Her final album, Lady in Satin, was released in 1958. Holiday died of heart failure on July 17, 1959, at age 44.
Holiday won four Grammy Awards, all of them posthumously, for Best Historical Album. She was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame. In 2000, she was also inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as an early influence; their website states that "Billie Holiday changed jazz forever".[2] She was named one of the 50 Great Voices by NPR; and was ranked fourth on the Rolling Stone list of "200 Greatest Singers of All Time" (2023).[3] Several films about her life have been released, most recently The United States vs. Billie Holiday (2021).
^Ostendorf, May 1993, pp. 201–202.
^Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
^"The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time". Rolling Stone. January 1, 2023. Retrieved August 19, 2023.
BillieHoliday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and...
of BillieHoliday, an American jazz singer, consists of 12 studio albums, three live albums, 24 compilations, six box sets, and 38 singles. Holiday recorded...
BillieHoliday Sings (MGC-118) is a 10-inch LP album made by jazz singer BillieHoliday, released in the United States by Clef Records in 1952. It was...
An Evening with BillieHoliday (MG C-144) is the second 10-inch LP studio album by jazz singer BillieHoliday, released by Clef Records in 1953. In 1956...
Billie Reed is a fictional character from the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives, created by writer Sheri Anderson and most prominently portrayed by Lisa...
her acting debut with her portrayal of BillieHoliday in Lee Daniels' biopic The United States vs. BillieHoliday, winning the Golden Globe Award for Best...
by Abel Meeropol (under his pseudonym Lewis Allan) and recorded by BillieHoliday in 1939. The lyrics were drawn from a poem by Meeropol published in...
Bud. BillieHoliday. Holloway House Publishing, 1990, p. 29. ISBN 978-0-87067-561-4. Biography portal Wikimedia Commons has media related to Billie Dove...
BillieHoliday at Jazz at the Philharmonic (MG C-169) is a live album by jazz singer BillieHoliday, originally recorded on February 12, 1945 and October...
The BillieHoliday Theatre (aka the "Billie," or the "BHT,") is an AUDELCO and Obie Award-winning theatre that aims to provide "complete and authentic...
thus tying Angela Lansbury and Julie Harris. Her 2014 performance as BillieHoliday in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill earned McDonald her sixth Tony...
official Harry J. Anslinger in the biographical film The United States vs. BillieHoliday in 2021, directed by Lee Daniels; Anslinger was actually in his mid...
British actress Billie (1965 film), a 1965 film starring Patty Duke Billie (2019 film), a documentary about BillieHolidayBillie club or baton, a weapon...
Allan. He wrote the poem "Strange Fruit" (1937), which was recorded by BillieHoliday. Meeropol was born in 1903 to Russian-Jewish immigrants in the Bronx...
Golden Globe Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated portrayal of BillieHoliday in the film Lady Sings the Blues (1972), becoming the first African-American...
(1996). She recorded cover versions of songs from the 1930s and '40s (BillieHoliday, Bessie Smith, Fats Waller) with a group of seasoned musicians: James...
With BillieHoliday Lady Day: The Complete BillieHoliday on Columbia Columbia Records Complete BillieHoliday Lester Young / Intégrale BillieHoliday Lester...
explicitly cited in the song "Jim", popularized by versions by Dinah Shore, BillieHoliday, Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald: Someday, I know that Jim will up...
later made his big screen debut in Lee Daniels' The United States vs. BillieHoliday, and later was cast in The Deliverance. He also appeared in the 2022...
world after the release of a version by jazz and swing music singer BillieHoliday in 1941. Lewis's lyrics referred to suicide, and the record label described...
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