Now like you and I, most people have childhoods. Holiday was born on April 7th, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was originally born as ‘Elinore Harris’ but later changed her name to ‘Billie’, in 1930, in honor of the film star Billie Dove. Sarah Julia Fagan was her mother, who had Billie when she was only a teenager, who passed away in the October of 1945. Her father, Clarence Holiday, was a successful jazz musician. Holiday was an only child, so no siblings for her. Holiday went to school at the ‘House of Good Shepherd’ but left because she was assaulted there when she was only nine. Billie’s first husband was James Monroe, a sportsman, in 1941. In 1944, she had a boyfriend, Joe Guy. By the late 1940’s, John Levy, was soon dating …show more content…
Holiday was arrested for narcotics, but managed to get back up on her feet and still perform at concert halls and sold out the Carnegie Hall. John Levy helped her get to play New York’s Club Ebony. Holiday toured with ‘Count Basies’ orchestra. She also had a very successful tour in Europe in 1954. Some of her successful songs were ‘Riffin’ the Scotch,’ ‘What a Little Moonlight Can Do,’ and ‘Miss Brown to You.’ She was named one of the most influential jazz singers ever because even if she was having troubles with her voice she made an amazing performance CBS television broadcast ‘The Sound of Jazz’ and because she was just an all around amazing jazz vocalist. To become famous, she performing in a Harlem Jazz Club when John Hammond, a producer, discovered her and was having her record with Berry Goodman, an up-and-coming clarinetist. Holiday achieved many things in her life. In 2000, she was put in the ‘Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.’ Her single ‘Riffin’ the Scotch’ was in the ‘top 10 hits’ in 1934. Holiday became the 1st African American vocalist to work with a white orchestra, she appeared in a 1947 film ‘New Orleans’ with Louis Armstrong. Her autobiography was written with William Bufty in 1956. She performed for the last time in New York City on May