Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday Background information Birth name Eleanora Fagan Also known as Lady Day Born April 7, 1915 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. Origin Harlem, New York, U.S. Died July 17, 1959 (aged 44) New York City, New York, U.S. Genres Vocal jazz, jazz blues, torch songs, swing, blues, R&B Occupation(s) Singer and songwriter Instruments Vocals Years active 1933–1959 Labels Brunswick, Vocalion, Okeh, Bluebird, Commodore, Capitol, Decca, Aladdin, Verve, Columbia, MGM Associated acts Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Lena Horne, Carmen McRae, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Artie Shaw, Lester Young Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. Biography Early life Holiday was born in Philadelphia, the daughter of Sarah Julia "Sadie" Fagan and Clarence Holiday. Her father, a musician, did not marry or live with her mother. Not long after Holiday's birth, Clarence left her and her mother to pursue a career as a jazz guitarist. Sarah had moved to Philadelphia aged 19, after being ejected from her parents' home in the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland for becoming pregnant. With no support from her parents, Holiday's mother arranged for the young Holiday to stay with her older married half-sister, Eva Miller, who lived in Baltimore. Holiday, who was of African American ancestry, was also said to have had Irish ancestors through her mother's mixed heritage.
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