Billie Holiday
Published on Nov 18, 2015
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE
She was born April 7, 1915 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her real name was Eleanora Fagan. She spent most of her childhood in Baltimore, Maryland. Her mother had her when she was a teenager. Billie started skipping school after her mother's divorce, which sent her straight to court for truancy.
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Billie was sent to a home for a long time and she was one of the youngest in the 'House of Good Sheperd'. When Billie was returned to her mom, they found out she had been sexually assaulted.
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Billie found comfort in music, listening to Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith. After a while, her mom had to move to New York City. She followed her and started working as a prostitute in Harlem. Later she started singing in clubs and calling herself Billie.
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When she was 18, John Hammond discovered Billie singing in a Harlem Jazz club. After that, she started singing with stars and appearing in films. She met Lester Young. He even lived with her and her mom. She called him "Prez" and he called her "Lady Day". She joined his band.
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She toured with Count Basie Orchestra in 1937. She also worked with Artie Shaw and his orchestra. That making her the first black woman to sing with a white orchestra. Many people objected Holiday, though, so she ended up leaving the orchestra because of frustration.
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Billie Holiday performed on her own on the New York's Café Society. While she was in there, she debuted two of her most famous songs "God Bless the Child" and "Strange Fruit". Her recording company didn't wanna release "Strange Fruit" because it was about the lynching of African Americans in the South. Instead of signing it with Columbia, she signed it with Commodore label.
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She married James Monroe in 1941. She already drank, and she picked up her husband's habit of smoking opium. Their marriage didn't last. They divorced really soon but she continued with his habits.
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She started using heroin when she started dating trumpeter Joe Guy. In October 1945, her mother died. After that, she started drinking heavily and using more drugs to ease her grief. Even with all of her problems, she was still a major star in the jazz world and even in popular music too.
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She appeared with her idol Louis Armstrong in a 1947 film. That same year, she was arrested for narcotics possesion. She was sentenced to one year and and a day of jail time. She ended up going to a rehabilitation center in West Virginia.
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Because of her addictions, she couldn't have a license to play in clubs and cabarets. John Levy, a New York club owner, helped to perform in New York's Club Ebony. Then he became her boyfriend and manager. She was arrested again in that time. She had a successful tour in Europe. She shared her an autobiography called 'Lady Sings the Blues'.
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She married Louis McKay and the two of them got arrested for narcotics in 1956. They married in Mexico the next year. Her voice was rough and not so good for so many drugs. On July 17, 1959, at 44 years old, she died of alcohol and drug-related problems.
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