Billie Holiday Research Paper

Eleanora Fagan also known as Billie Holiday was born on April 7, 1915 and died on July 17, 1959. She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She had a nickname of “Lady Holiday” which was given to her music partner Lester Young. She was considered one of the best jazz vocalists of all time. Holiday had a thriving career as a jazz singer for many years before she lost her battle with substance abuse. In 2000, Billie was put into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Billie Holiday was important to the Harlem Renaissance because of her singing, the fact that she was one of the best jazz vocalists in history and that each of her songs had a message. Eleanora talent was her gift. She had such a great voice and that’s why she went so far with her voice. Holiday spent much of her childhood in Baltimore, Maryland. Sadie was only a teenager when she had her. Her father eventually became a successful jazz musician, playing with the likes of Fletcher Henderson. Her father name was Clarence Holiday. Her father didn’t come around often as she would have liked him too. Sadie married Philip Gough in 1920 and for a few years Billie had a somewhat stable home life. After a few years, the marriage ended. Then, she and her mother were back on their own struggling. Sometimes Billie was left in the care of other people. Holiday started skipping school, and she and her mother went to court over Holiday's truancy. She was then sent to the House of Good Shepherd, a facility for troubled African American girls, in January 1925. Only 9 years old at the time, Holiday was one of the youngest girls there. She was returned to her mother's care in August of that year. Wilbur Rich tried to rape her but failed. Then her and her mother started to prostitute but was later taken to prison when caught. Many black artists of her era, Billie Holiday suffered a significant amount of racial prejudice. However, her personal demons with a severe narcotics addiction problem However, when presented with the song "Strange Fruit" she saw that the lyrics of the song would give her the opportunity to make a very strong, public statement against racism Nevertheless, the lyrics of the song were so controversial at the time that she took a lot of …show more content…
The song was about the protest of American racism. Her successes were that all the songs she published were a hit. That’s why she was place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Some other songs of hers were Summer time, Gloomy Sunday, Living Easy, Don’t Explain, My Man and etc. Music related to the Harlem Renaissance because everyone at this time needed something to uplift their spirits. Soulful sound something that African Americans possessed and that was what songs were based on. “Era of Music there were those whites interested in so-called “primitive” cultures, as many whites viewed black American culture at that time and wanted to see this “primitivism” in the work coming out of the Harlem Renaissance”, written by one of my sources. Other situations dealings between whites and blacks can be categorized as exploitive because of the desire to capitalize on the fad and fascination of the African American being in