BILLIE HOLIDAY: THE LEGACY OF LADY DAY

In celebration of Black History Month, we delve into the life of the iconic Billie Holiday - a pillar of American jazz music and a powerhouse of a woman.

Billie Holiday is one of the most highly regarded jazz vocalists of the 20th century. She not only had an inescapable influence on jazz, but also on the creative process of many artists following her. Holiday prioritised emotional expression in her music and has been recognised for refusing to change her style for anyone, having been quoted saying, “If I’m going to sing like someone else, then I don’t need to sing at all”. This new era of music that Billie was a part of helped deconstruct Tin Pan Alley’s dominance within popular music. Tin Pan Alley is a name given to a collective of music publishers and songwriters at this time that produced a large amount of the popular music in America. Billie’s music on the other hand, was personal and revealing; she prioritised emotion and relayed the turmoil of her own rocky private life. Billie’s talent and passion has meant the appreciation of her music has lasted for decades, with people now regarding her as one of the most influential talents of her time.

Image Credit: @prithandpen

Early Life

Billie Holiday was born with the name Eleanora Fagan on April 7th 1915, and it is believed that her father was Clarence Holiday, who was himself a jazz musician. Her father left when she was just a baby and her mother, Sadie Fagan, was only a teenager herself. Billie reportedly faced many hardships during childhood and was ultimately sent to The House of Good Shepherd, a facility for ‘troubled’ girls, at the age of 9. She eventually moved to New York with her mother and began singing in local clubs in 1930, around which time she reportedly took on the stage name Billie after the silent film star Billie Dove.

The Beginning of her Career

Whilst performing in jazz clubs across Harlem, Billie was introduced to Benny Goodman, a famous clarinetist and bandleader who was nicknamed the ‘King of Swing’. It was with Goodman and his orchestra that Billie released her first records, including ‘Your Mother’s Son-In-Law’ and ‘Riffin’ the Scotch’, which made it into the Top 10 in 1934. Billie bagged herself a record deal with Brunswick Records in 1935 and began recording with “the definitive swing pianist”, Teddy Wilson. It was at this time she also appeared in the short film, ‘Symphony in Black’ with the jazz giant, Duke Ellington. Billie’s career continued to grow as her list of friends within the industry became more extensive and the recognition for her unique vocals spread. She went on to play with Count Basie—who was an “American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer”—and his orchestra, where she met Lester Young. Lester ultimately became a dear friend of hers and coined her famous nickname Lady Day.

Controversy

Billie moved on to collaborate with Artie Shaw and his orchestra, which made her the first female African American vocalist to work with a white orchestra. As important as this milestone was, Billie sadly had to leave this role due to promoters mistreating her for her race and her style of singing. The subversive nature of Billie’s career didn’t stop there; in 1939 she made her debut performance of the iconic track ‘Strange Fruit’ at New York’s first integrated club, Cafe Society. ‘Strange Fruit’ was written by Abel Meeropol, a poet and songwriter, and addresses the lynching of African American people in the South at the time. It had already been banned by some radio stations when she received a warning from the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, telling her not to perform the track anymore - but, of course she ignored this instruction and continued to feature it in her shows. This agitational attitude towards those who were enforcing countless forms of oppression was one of the many things that solidified Billie Holiday as a creative icon of her time. Following this ‘disobedience’- Harry Aslinger, as the man in charge of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, allegedly called for her arrest based on his so-called ‘knowledge’ of her drug use. This call led to Holiday being arrested and tried under a narcotics charge in 1947. For this, she shockingly had to serve one year and one day of jail time.

1950s

After her time in prison, Billie saw herself into the 1950s by appearing in the short film ‘Sugar Chile Robinson, Billie Holiday and His Sextet’, and recorded with Norman Granz— a “​​jazz record producer and a concert promoter”, who was also praised for his anti-racist stance and push for intergration. In this time Billie also underwent a massively successful tour in Europe. Through the rest of the decade Billie would go on to release 9 albums, including ‘An Evening with Billie Holiday’ and her album debut under Columbia Records, ‘Lady in Satin’. In 1956, Billie’s autobiography ‘Lady Sings the Blues’, which was written in collaboration with William Dufty, was published under Doubleday. It has been suggested that this autobiography may have twisted the facts of Billie’s life; supposedly she wasn’t in the best place when working with Dufty having just been released from jail. Regardless, Billie went on to perform multiple sold out shows at Carnegie Hall. She gave her final performance in New York on May 25th 1959, but was admitted to hospital shortly after this and subsequently died from alcohol and drug related issues.

Billie’s Continued Legacy

The respect of Billie has climbed throughout the years, with her influence on the music industry undeniable. In 1972, Nina Simone recorded her iconic version of ‘Strange Fruit’, and in the same year Billie’s autobiography was made into a film starring Diana Ross and Richard Pryor. Billie happened to pass away in the same year of the first ever Grammy Awards, but in 1976 her single ‘God Bless The Child’ was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, shortly followed by ‘Strange Fruit’ in 1978. She went on to have a further three singles inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, including the brilliant ‘Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?). In 1980, The Grammys also recognised ‘Billie Holiday - Giants of Jazz’ as the best historical album and paid tribute to her career with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987. On top of the array of accolades from the Grammy Awards, ‘Strange Fruit’ was declared the song of the century by Time Magazine in 1999. Holiday has also been inducted into the ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame, the National Women’s Hall of Fame, the Apollo Theater’s Walk of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, to which her induction was presented by Diana Ross. She has also been further honoured by ‘Lady Day: The Musical’ starring Dee Dee Bridgewater. This musical follows some of the events in Billie Holiday’s life and is written by Lanie Robertson, it premiered in 1986 and then opened again on Broadway in 2014.

In 2020, more than 100 years after Billie was born, the documentary ‘Billie’ was released with the tagline “she sang the truth, she paid the price”. There are many debates surrounding the specifics of Billie’s personal life, but what we have true clarity on is her musicianship and talent; her vocals are timeless and effortless, and have a persistent sleepiness about them that can lull you into a peaceful trance. Billie faced adversities in her life head on and created the music she wanted to, the way she wanted to create it. For that, music lovers all over the world maintain nothing but respect for her and her dedication to her art.