Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia 1933–1944

Billie Holiday Also known as “Lady Day” and born Eleanora Fagan, Billie Holiday was one of the most prolific jazz singers of her time and also made a significant contribution to the civil rights movement occurring during her life. She is widely regarded as a unique and important figure in the in the jazz community and has relevance even 50 years after her death. GROWING UP: Billie Holiday was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1915 to Sarah Fagan and Clarence Holiday. She had a very tough childhood, when she was very young her father left the family to pursue being a jazz guitarist. She was constantly being uprooted and moving around as a child. Eventually her mother opened a restaurant the Billie worked at starting at age 10 and had dropped out of school by the age of 11. When Billie was 11 years old her mother found her neighbor attempting to rape her, but Billie was so strong she was fighting back, she fought hard enough that the man was arrested and Billie was put into protective custody for a few months while the case was straightened out. Shortly after this Billie started working at a brothel running errands, working in this place first exposed Billie to jazz recordings of artists like Louis Armstrong and “Empress of the Blues” Bessie Smith. After being taken to Harlem at age 14 with her…