Billie Holiday Did you know Billie Holiday was considered one of the best vocalist of her time? Even though she had a rough childhood she soon would become a great music artist. She had an interesting career as an artist and she worked with a great amount of great artist like Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, and more. She was one of the best until her addiction came along. First, she had one of the toughest childhoods someone could get. She was born on April 7, 1915 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her mother was only a teenager when she had her. Her father was thought to be Clarence Holiday but he was only a frequent visitor. She spent most of her childhood in Baltimore, Maryland but later moved to New York with her mom in the late 1920’s. She began working as a prostitute when she was twelve and she ended up getting arrested for it. After that she began singing in local clubs. She had some influential artist like Louis Armstrong. She would sing along to records of Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong. …show more content…
The instrument that she used was her voice, and it was truly on of the best in jazz history. Although she didn’t play an instrument like the trumpet or saxophone, she still became well known for her talent. She also ended up playing in the Count Basie Orchestra. She worked with truly inspiring artist like Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Lester Young, and recorded with many recording companies. Two of her record companies were named Columbia and Commodore Finally, her style of music was really impressive but it all came to an end with a terrible tragedy. Billie Holiday’s style of singing was primarily jazz and pop. She sang from ballad songs to blues type of songs. She sang many songs and also recorded many songs as well. Some of the songs she recorded was “Strange Fruit”, “Gloomy Sunday”, “Billie’s Blues”, “Fine and Mellow”, and many more. A