what do you no about BILLIE HOLIDAY ?

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i need more information

Answer 1

Billie Holiday (April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959), also called Lady Day, was an American singer, generally considered one of the greatest female jazz voices of all time, alongside Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald.
Early life
Born Eleanora Fagan Gough, Billie Holiday had a difficult childhood which greatly affected her life and career. Much of her childhood is clouded by conjecture and legend, some of it propagated by herself in her autobiography published in 1956. This account is known to contain many inaccuracies. Her professional pseudonym was taken from Billie Dove, an actress she admired, and Clarence Holiday, her father. At the outset of her career, she spelled her last name "Halliday", presumably to distance herself from her neglectful father, but eventually changed it back to "Holiday".

She was born in Philadelphia but grew up in the Fells Point section of Baltimore, Maryland. According to her autobiography, her house was the first on their street to have electricity. Her mother Sadie moved to Philadelphia to hide her pregnancy. Sadie was allegedly only thirteen at the time of her birth (according to Ancestry.com, her Mother's birth year is 1896, making Billie's mother the age of 19 when she was born); her father Clarence Holiday, a jazz guitarist who would play for Fletcher Henderson, was 17. There is some controversy regarding Holiday's paternity, stemming from a copy of her birth certificate in the Baltimore archives that lists the father as a "Frank DeViese." Some historians consider this an anomaly, probably inserted by a hospital or government worker (See Donald Clarke, Billie Holiday: Wishing on the Moon, ISBN 0306811367). Clarence Holiday accepted paternity, but was hardly a responsible father. In the rare times she did see him, she would shake him down for money by threatening to tell his then-girlfriend that he had a daughter.

Early singing career
Scarred by these experiences, Holiday moved to New York with her mother in 1928. According to her accounts, she was recruited by a brothel, worked as a prostitute, and was eventually imprisoned for a short time. It was in Harlem in the early 1930's that she started singing for tips in various night clubs. According to legend, penniless and facing eviction, she sang "Body and Soul" in a local club and reduced the audience to tears. She later worked at various clubs for tips, and ultimately we know that she worked at Pod's and Jerry's, a well known Harlem jazz club. Not a lot is known about her early singing career, but we do know that she was working at a club named Monette's in 1933 when she was discovered by talent scout John Hammond (see "Billie Holiday." Black History Month Biographies. 2004. Gale Group Databases. 1 Mar, 2004).

Hammond managed to get Holiday recording sessions with Benny Goodman and booked her for live performances in various New York clubs. In 1935 her career got a big push when she recorded four sides that became hits, including "What a Little Moonlight Can Do" and "Miss Brown To You". This landed her a recording contract of her own, and from 1935 to 1942 she laid down masters that would ultimately become an important segment of early American jazz. Sometimes referred to as her "Columbia period" (after her label), these recordings represent a large portion of her total body of work.

During this period, the American music industry was still moderately segregated, and many of the songs Holiday was given to record were intended for the black jukebox audience. She was often not considered for the 'best' songs of the day, which were reserved for white singers. However, Holiday's style and fresh sound soon caught the attention of musicians across the nation, and her popularity began to climb. Peggy Lee, who began recording with Benny Goodman in the early 1940s, is often said to have emulated Holiday's light, sensual style.

In 1936 she was working with Lester Young, who gave her the now-famous nickname of Lady Day. Holiday joined Count Basie in 1937 and Artie Shaw in 1938. She was one of the first black women to work with a white orchestra, an impressive accomplishment at the time.

Later life and the Verve sessions
By the 1950s Holiday's drug abuse, drinking, poor taste in abusive men, and deteriorating health set her life on a slow and steady decline. Her voice coarsened and did not project the vibrance it once did. However, she seemed to stand as a prime example of the struggling artist, and projected a certain bittersweet dignity.

On March 28, 1952, Holiday married Louis McKay, a Mafia "enforcer." McKay, like most of the men in her life, was abusive, but did try to get her off drugs. They were separated at the time of her death. Holiday was also rather openly bisexual and was rumored to have had several affairs with notable stage and film actresses, including Tallulah Bankhead. She sometimes had friends call her "Bill." Gossip has it that she paid prostitutes to perform oral sex on her, which she called "french kissing." Holiday also had a relationship with Orson Welles.

Her late recordings on Verve are as well remembered as her Commodore and Decca work. From 1952 to 1959 Holiday released a little more than 100 new recordings for this label, which would constitute about a third of her recorded work. Her voice reflects a rugged timbre on these tracks, reflecting a vulnerability to the once grand and bold diva. Her performance of "Fine and Mellow" on CBS's The Sound of Jazz program is memorable for her interplay with her long-time friend Lester Young; both were less than two years from death.

Holiday toured Europe in 1954 and again from late 1958 to early 1959. While in London in February 1959, Holiday made a memorable televised appearance on the BBC's Chelsea at Nine, singing, among other songs, "Strange Fruit." Holiday made her final studio recordings (with Ray Ellis and his Orchestra, who had also recorded her Lady in Satin album the previous year — see below) for the MGM label in March 1959 (included in her complete Verve recordings collection.) These final studio recordings were released posthumously on a self-titled album, later re-titled and re-released as Last Recordings. She made her final public appearance at a benefit concert at the Phoenix Theater in Greenwich Village, New York City on May 25, 1959. According to the masters of ceremony at that performance, Leonard Feather (a renowned jazz critic) and Steve Allen, she was only able to make it through two songs, one of which was "Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do."

On May 31, 1959, she was taken to Metropolitan Hospital in New York, suffering from liver and heart problems. On July 12, she was placed under house arrest at the hospital for possession, despite evidence suggesting the drugs may have been planted on her. Holiday remained under police guard at the hospital until she died from cirrhosis of the liver on July 17, 1959 at the age of 44. In the final years of her life, she had been progressively swindled out of her earnings, and she died with only $0.70 in the bank and $750 on her person.

Her impact on other artists was undeniable, however; even after her death she influenced such singers as Janis Joplin and Nina Simone. In 1972, Diana Ross played her in a movie version of Holiday's autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues. To everyone's surprise, the film was a commercial smash and earned a Best Actress nomination for Ross. In 1987 U2 released "Angel of Harlem", a tribute to her.

Like many artists, the importance of Holiday's music and her influence were only truly realized after her death. She struggled against racism and sexism her entire career, and achieved fame despite a turbulent life. She is also often also cited as an example to the black and gay communities, both which admire her early efforts to stand up for equal rights, and to speak out against discrimination and racism. She is now considered one of the most important vocalists of the 20th century.

Billie Holiday is interred in Saint Raymond's Cemetery, Bronx, New York.

Trivia
Billie was 5'5"
Her grandfather was one of seventeen children of a black Virginia female slave and a white Irish plantation owner.
The Black Eyed Peas paid her a tribute in a Coca Cola commercial
America's Next Top Model contestant Mercedes Yvette posed as Billie Holiday during a photoshoot in which the models had to portray a famous figure. The judges said that the photograph captured Billie's sweet sadness.
Holiday spent much of the 1930's working with famous jazz saxaphonist Lester Young. It was Young who gave Holiday the nickname Lady Day, and Holiday gave Young the nickname "Prez". The two were reunited at a performance on the CBS television special The Sound of Jazz on December 8, 1957. They were both on tour in Europe in March of 1959 when Young fell ill and had to return to New York. Young died on March 15, 1959 at the age of 49. According to renowned jazz critic Leonard Feather, who rode with Holiday in a taxi to Young's funeral, she told Feather on the ride over, "I'll be the next one to go". Holiday died almost exactly four months later.
On September 18,1994, the United States Postal Service honored Holiday by introducing a USPS sponsored stamp.
Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000 (under the category 'early influence')
A statue of Holiday stands at the corner of Lafayette and Pennsylvania Avenues in Baltimore.
December 24, 1929, Sadie discovered Wilbert Rich (a neighbor) raping Billie. Wilbert was only sentenced 3 months in jail.
Sadie died October 6,1945.
While in the hospital, Billie hid her drugs in a Kleenex box, a nurse discovered it and she was arrested on her deathbed.
In April 2005, in honor of the 90th anniversary of Billie's birth, Columbia University's radio station, WKCR-FM (www.WKCR.org), broadcast a two-week marathon festival of Billie's music, pre-empting all regular programming.
Cousin of boxer Henry Armstrong

Answer 2

Billie Holiday Nickname

Answer 3

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Answer 4

Billie Holiday's grandfather was one of 17 children of a black Virginia slave and a white Irish plantation owner. Her mother was only 13 when she was born.

The future "Lady Day" first heard the music of Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith on a Victrola at Alice Dean's, the Baltimore "house of ill repute" where she ran errands and scrubbed floors as a young girl. She made her singing debut in obscure Harlem nightclubs (borrowing her professional name from screen star Billie Dove), then toured with Count Basie and Artie Shaw before going solo. Benny Goodman dragged the frightened singer to her first studio session. Between 1933 and 1944, she recorded over 200 "sides," but she never received royalties for any of them.

Despite a lack of technical training, Holiday's unique diction, inimitable phrasing and acute dramatic intensity made her the outstanding jazz singer of her day. White gardenias, worn in her hair, became her trademark.

"Singing songs like the 'The Man I Love' or 'Porgy' is no more work than sitting down and eating Chinese roast duck, and I love roast duck," she wrote in her autobiography. "I've lived songs like that." Her own compositions included "God Bless the Child," espousing the virtues of financial independence and "Don't Explain," lament on infidelity.

Billie Holiday, a musical legend still popular today, died an untimely death at the age of 44.

Answer 5

Greatest singer of all time
She never sang the same song the same way twice
Can be classified as a jazz singer or a blues singer
Heroin addict
She had a very sad, lonely life
"God Bless The Child"
"Strange Fruit"
Favorite musical partner was Lester Young, the saxophonist
Autobiography and movie - Lady Sings The Blues (Diana Ross played her)

Answer 6

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
what do you no about BILLIE HOLIDAY ?
i need more information

Answer 7

She sung aThe Very Thought of You in Forever Young with Mel Gibson

Answer 8

I know she's a bisexual musician with a wonderful voice from the 40's and 50's.

Answer 9

There are lots of people who would laugh at the prospect of changing their destinies. This is because it believes that no one gets more that exactly what is written in his destiny.

Answer 10

her name was eleanora fagan/billie holiday stage name was lady day

Answer 11

She was superb, truly an original talent. Check out "I'll be seeing you" and "Pennies from Heaven"