Billie Holiday Research Paper

Not everyone is blessed with musical talent but when someone has an extraordinary ability, he or she should get the chance to please others with it. Sometimes a career can be made out of musical endowment, and that is what Billie Holiday did. Billie had a life that she may not have dreamed of since it started out rough with her mistreatment from adults and discouraging misfortunes, but she was ambitious and that showed through her singing career. Billie could usually adapt to her life’s problems except for her drug addiction and alcohol abuse, which unfortunately led to her demise. She was a talented woman who sang and helped create hit songs that aided her to rise to fame. Billie Holiday bravely stood up to racism, showed the world her talent, and inspired many of her beloved fans, all while continuing to be herself and not allowing the issues in her life hold her back.

      Billie Holiday was a jazz singer. Holiday was a musician of great proportion, but as a black woman was "discriminated against even as an artist"(Davis 2). Holiday started her career as a young woman, and was talented enough to start her career as a singer; when most black women her age were forced into a dancing career, due to the white-male dominated entertainment industry. Holiday sang jazz songs that varied from "My Man," a song about a man who beats her, to "Strange Fruit," a haunting protest song about lynching in the American South.  Tony Bennett once stated about Holiday, "She didn't sing anything unless she had lived it" (Foley 1). So black fans claimed her as their voice to willing white ears, "not only as a favorite performer but as a kind of patron saint" (Davis 3). Holiday faced the simple obstacle of being heard. Although jazz had become a moving genre of music in her time, and Holiday's talent was overwhelming, it was a challenge for a black woman to be taken seriously for the messages in her songs. Black women were often praised for being emotional and not intellectual in their musical talent.

The Harlem Renaissance was an African American cultural movement specifically in creative arts such as music and literature. Jazz represented the flavor and zest of African American culture in the 1920s-1940s. Billie Holiday had a great impact on the Harlem Renaissance because she was one of the most influential jazz singers of all time. She performed with other great jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Teddy Wilson, Jo Jones, and Henry Allen. Her career as a jazz singer was an incredible and thriving one, however, it was shortened because of her battle of substance abuse. Despite the drug use and the loss of her mother, the only thing she could turn to was her music. Billie Holiday's legacy will always live on when the discussion of the Harlem Renaissance is present.

(ella baker.org) She was (sv)inspired to join the movement by her grandmother (w-w)who often confessed the brutality of life under slavery. (2)She was very (adj)inspiring to her community and even joined several organizations benefiting African Americans. One organization Baker was a part of called the SNCC helped create a Freedom Summer (bc)because they wanted to bring national attention to Mississippi’s racism and unwillingness to register black voters. (Ellabaker) (ly)Simply, she is remembered today for her “Audacity to Dream

She became a well known dancer and a high paid chorus member. In 1925 she got the chance to tour Europe and especially fell in love with France. In France she encountered a much more accepting atmosphere than the racist atmosphere in St. Louis. Her performances became much more exotic and extravagant. She later chose to live in France and leave the racism of the United States behind.

From www.biography.com . Billie Holiday was one of the most influential jazz singers of all time. She had a thriving career for many years before she lost her battle with substance abuse. Also known as Lady Day, her autobiography was made into the 1972 film “Lady Sings the Blues.” Billie was born Eleanora Fagan on April 7, 1915, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, some sources say her birthplace was Baltimore, Maryland and her birth certificate reportedly reads “Elinore Harris”).

She was the starving musician, the jazz singer who did all she could to stay alive and still do what she loves. The dedication she displayed to jazz is not easy to explain. She was a perfectionist in her fashion, depending upon her excellent ear, unique voice and honesty and love for people to keep her love alive.

Her most famous song, Strange Fruit, was recorded in 1939, and was about lynching. (Forney, K., Dell’Antonio, A., & Machlis J., 2015). “… the song resonated with blacks and whites alike and became a powerful social commentary on black identity and equality.” (Forney, K., Dell’Antonio, A., & Machlis J., 2015). She recorded 100 new songs on a different label, Verve, while doing this she had a tour in Europe (The Bicycle Music Company, 2016). “By the 1940’s, Holiday’s life had deteriorated, the result of alcohol, drug abuse, and ill-chosen relationships with abusive men. She began using opium and heroin, and was jailed on drug charges in

She is Lady Day, “ a vision of heartache and emotional honesty,” (Alexander). Billie Holiday’s personal trials were what introduced her to the life of Jazz. It was an essential part into the upbringing of her fame and notoriety in the modern entertainment world. Billie Holiday was born on April 7, 1915 as Eleanor Fagan. She had a rough start as a child which began by the abandonment of her

In conclusion, Woody Guthrie inspires so many people around the world. I appreciate everything he has done to support people everyday. Those were only some of the ways that Woody’s quotes and songs are alike and

Eleanara Fagan know as Billie Holiday was born on April 7,1915 . Billie Holiday was an American Jazz musician and singer-songwriter with a Career spanning nearly thirty years. Billie Holiday was nicknamed “lady Day” by her friend and music partner Lester Yound. After a turbulent Childhood ,Billie Holiday began singing in nightclubs in Harlem, Where she was heard by the producer John Hammand, who Commended her voice. Billie Holiday signed a recording Contract with Brunswick Records in 1935.

Ask anyone who the great starlet of the 1920s was and they will all say the beautiful and talented Josephine Baker. Josephine was known by many names, Freda Josephine McDonald her birth name, Josephine Baker her stage name, as well as “Black Venus”, “Black Pearl” and Creole Goddess (Louck "The Official Josephine Baker Website"). No matter whom Josephine was known as this does not distinguish the amount of work succeeded by Baker. Josephine Baker was an African American who broke free from racial offense by playing an important role in the Harlem Renaissance and showing people that she could become a respected dancer regardless of her race.

At the end of her life Billie’s personal life and career suffered. She didn’t have a cabaret card which is what was needed to work in New York City clubs at the time. She had no many in her bank account because she was cheated out of it. While she was dying she was arrested due to her heroin addiction. (www.numberonestars.com, 2010)

genres? Is Beyoncé or Billie holiday be well known for their awards they have received and how their music affected their societies? Did Billie holiday or Beyoncé music affect women in their societies? Could the music written and sung or recorded have a deeper meaning to their listeners? Does the music encourage their fan or relate to their fans in an everyday life?

She was idealized by every young African American girl in the 70's. She produced number one hits one after the other and became a social icon.