Album covers for albums by Billie Holiday, found by OneMusicAPI.
To all jazz lovers out there, Billie Holiday is certainly included in the household names of top jazz singers of all time. Born as Eleanora Fagan in April 7, 1915, her sweet and majestic voice has become iconic in the jazz industry making Holiday as one of the best American jazz vocals and songwriters known today. One of the things that made her stand out back in the late 30’s was when she started to incorporate, although subtly, the pop elements into jazz. This has made a big impact in the music industry especially when people started to like this contemporary jazz music. Songs like Lady Sings the Blues, Don’t Explain, Easy Living, Good Morning Heartache, and Strange Fruit have made her quite popular and legendary.
Billie Holiday was born in Philadelphia and she led a traumatic life especially when she was conceived out of wedlock and that the parents of her mother decided that they do not want anything to do with her upon learning that she was pregnant. Her mother moved out and stayed with her sister in Baltimore leaving young Billie to the care of her aunt while her mother worked as an attendant on passenger railroads. When they moved to New York, Billie and her mother became a prostitute to survive. They went to prison after the whorehouse was raided. She was only 14.
All of these experiences made Billie passionate about her music since it certainly reeks of emotions from her past. She was then discovered and was finally labeled to Brunswick Records as she sings jazz and swing songs. She became popular and ended on being addicted to drugs and alcohol. It was in 1959 when she was diagnosed having Cirrhosis, a liver disease that cost her life.
