Billie Holiday Research Paper

One of the greatest Jazz singers of all time, Billie Holiday, born Eleanora Harris on April 7, 1915. Her mother Sadie was an eighteen-year old cleaner and her father Clarence Holiday was a sixteen-year old guitarist. Her parents were not married nor did they live together and Billie's yearn for independence allowed her to quickly learn how to defend and protect herself from the dangerous streets of Baltimore, Maryland. Billie was very rough around the edges and wasn't afraid of anyone nor did she tolerate disrespect from anyone she came across. At the age of 11, Billie was raped by her neighbor one evening and although she he was sentenced to three months in prison, Billie the victim of this horrific crime, was also punished and sent to "The

In 1928, Billie and her mother Sadie moved from Baltimore, Maryland to Harlem, New York. Once the arrived to the big city, they found that the popularity of the Jazz Era had increased tremendously and had been taking over. Billie loved singing and so she would spend her time at different public and private parties where musicians like Duke Ellington would come and perform. But in order to survive in New York, Billie and her mother worked in a Brothel as prostitutes. Once caught, they both were arrested for prostitution, Billie just fourteen spent one hundred days in a work house for homeless and dissipated adults. A change of career was called for. There was a small gang of singers, dancers, and comedians who would go from club to club performing for no money and they would perform all night long. Billie would go from table to table singing the songs that she heard. But each time she sang those songs, she would sing the chorus differently teaching and training herself to improvise. One night Billie was singing in a club when John Hammond, a young record producer came and heard her

She got an opportunity to star alogside her idol Louis Armstrong in the 1947 film New Orleans, playing the role of a maid. Because of her use of drugs and heavy drinking, Holiday's drug use caused to become unreliable, unprofessional and tarnish her reputation. Soon afterwards, Billie was arrested and convicted drug possession 1947. Sentenced to one year in jail time, Holiday went to prison in West Virginia. After being released a year later, Billie found that it would be difficult for her to perform at shows and clubs because of her criminal history and also because she was unable to get the license she needed to perform. Despite this setback, Billie got an opportunity to perform at different oncert halls as well as selling out tickets at Carnegie Hall. New York club promoter John Levy, who also became her boyfriend, began managing Billie in the late 1940's. It is also at this time in which Billie would gace charges for drug possessions which later dropped. Despite her excessive use of drugs and alcohol, Billie ccontinued touring and recording recording in the 1950's. By 1952, she recorded records the owner of many small jazz recorrd labels, Norman Granz. Two years later in 1954, she had a successful tour in Europe. Two years after that in 1956, Billie decided to share her lifestory with thee worrld. Her autobiography Lady Sings the