Billie Holiday
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Billie Holiday began her career during the Great Depression of the 1930s. This was a time of widespread hardship and unemployment in the United States, especially for African Americans. By 1935, unemployment had reached 25% nationally and 33% among African Americans in New York City. It was against this backdrop of economic struggle that Holiday launched her career as a jazz singer, going on to record songs that addressed issues of racism like "Strange Fruit." Despite the difficulties of the era, Holiday's talent allowed her to find success as an entertainer.
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Billie Holiday
- 2. The Great Depression BillieHoliday’s World. Billie Holiday began her career in jazz as the jazz age was coming to a close. Instead her early career took place during the Great Depression. It was a time of great hardship for people worldwide. The first widely acknowledged indicator in the US would be the stock market crash of 1929, known as Black Tuesday. By 1935 the US had reach 25% unemployment. At the same time the Midwestern United States was being hit with a devastating period of drought and erosion that has become to be known as the Dust Bowl. The Midwest was facing dust storms so great they could turn the sky black. Billie Holiday would have been working in Harlem jazz clubs at the time. African American’s in major cities were particularly hard hit by the growing unemployment. While the national average was at 25%, African American’s in New York were facing a 33% unemployment rate. This gross disparity led to growth of many grass roots political movements, including a campaign urging Harlemites to “Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work.” These grass roots movements along with tightening voter margins between Republicans and Democrats made African American community a needed constituent group for New York politicians. (Greenberg) It was a time when people had to choose not between their wants, but between their needs. A time where disposable income for entertainment was slim to none, Billie Holiday was so talented that she managed to become a hit entertainer.
- 6. Strange Time ForStrange Fruit • Strange Fruit was the first song to speak of racism or lynching. • Recorded in 1939 (1.) • Inspired by photo of a lynching • Strange Fruit raised social and political conscious about racism though it never actually mentions lynching • In 1999, Billboard named Strange Fruit “Song of the Century”
- 8. The Early Years BillieHoliday: An Artists Struggle. Billie Holiday was born Eleanora Fagan in Philadelphia on April 7th 1915. Eleanora had a troubled childhood. She was born to unwed parents Sarah Fagan and Clarence Holiday. Sarah, 19 at the time, was ejected from her parent’s home for her out of wedlock pregnancy and having no where to else to go, she sent her daughter to live with her half sister while she took jobs working on passenger trains. With the exception of her mother’s brief marriage, Eleanora was left with her aunt until the age 9, when after being brought to juvenile court for truancy, she sent to The House of the Good Shepherd, a reform school, where she stayed for nine months before being released into her mother’s custody. She began working long hours in her mothers restaurant, and by age 11 had dropped out of school. A year later Holiday was attacked and raped by a neighbor and placed back at The House of the Good Shepherd, this time for protective custody. She was released three months later. Eleanora’s mother then moved to Harlem where she to took work as a prostitute. Before too long, Eleanora, thirteen at the time, began working as prostitute as well. She was arrested and sent to prison in May of 1929. She was released in October of 1920 she was released. At the age of fourteen, having shouldered a life that would crush most adults, she took the name Billie Holiday and started her musical career. (Stuart)
- 9. Billie’s great grandmotherwas a slave on a Virginia plantation and had 16 children by her white, Irish plantation owner Charles Fagan. Billie’s grandfather was named after him. When Billie lived on S. Durham Street (first at 217 and then at 219), her family was the first in the neighborhood to have gas and electricity. It made the neighbors mad when the gas pipes were installed as it brought out the rats. Her mother wanted to start her own restaurant and Billie gave her money. The restaurant was called Mom Holiday’s and was on 99th Street in New York. On many occasions she asked Billie for money since it wasn’t doing well. One time Billie needed money and asked her mother for some but her mother wouldn’t give her a dime. Billie said “God bless the child that’s got his own” and walked out. A few weeks later, she co-wrote the lyrics for that song, which soon became a big hit. The song reached number 25 on the charts in 1941. In 1976 it was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame. Little Known Facts
- 10. Discussion of BillieHoliday’s Work Billie Holiday was an extremely influential artist, performing Jazz and Blues to many a happy listener. As did many of the artists of her time , she performed songs by other composers but was not limited or constrained to the sheet music. She was a competent and capable artist that breathed life into every song she sang, rarely singing a song the same way twice. She also co-wrote the lagendary tune “God Bless The Child”. Take a listen to Lady Day talk about one of her favorite styles of music, The Blues, in this brief blabberize clip. one aspect of Billie holiday that made her so interesting was that when she recorded music, she rarely had sheet music in hand and improvised most of her songs. This was true when she was recording under Brunswick Records and of note, she was only paid a flat fee instead of royalties for her works. At the height of her career, she was said to have around a quarter of a million dollars. This is not much by today's standards but in her time, she was one of the highest paid female artists. Lady Days popularity spanned several decades but the height of her popularity peaked in the late 1930’s. As her popularity and reputation exploded, she began to perform with popular orchestras led by the likes of Count Basie and Artie Shaw. Two very popular band leaders in their own right. Being a musician was a full-time job for Billie Holiday. In the early years, she performed in night clubs up to six times a week until she got her big break and started singing with orchestras. With a lengthy studio career, she also stayed busy singing to sold out crowds, most notably her performance at Carnegie Hall in 1948 as well as touring Europe. She even made television appearances on The Tonight Show as well as a reality show on ABC. She also appeared in a short film “Sugar Chile Robinson, Billie Holiday, Count Basie and His Sextet" in 1950. Billie was quite a busy lady and all careers must come to an end. Hers ended with her last performance in New York City in 1959. Billie Holiday died later that year. it’s interesting to note that it is said that when she died, she had $750 strapped to her leg. It is believed that this is due to her fear of poverty, having lived in it for so long at an early age. What’s ironic about it, is that she spent all her money on drugs and died with very little money to her name.
- 12. Works Cited “Billie Holiday.”Encyclopedia Britannica. 2014. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 28 Mar. 2014 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/269239/Billie-Holiday>. Casa Loma Stomp, Fletcher Henderson Connie's Inn Orchestra. 1932 Hallmark Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03w877DoUiM March 29, 2014 Chilton, John. Billie's Blues: The Billie Holiday Story, 1933-1959. London: Da Capo Press, 1975. Print. Friedman, J.C. (2013). The Routledge History of Social Protest in Popular Music. New York: Taylor and Francis. God Bless the Child. Billie Holiday, 1941 Marks Music Corporation, Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_1LfT1MvzI March 29, 2014 Griffin, Farah Jasmine. If you can't be Free, Be a Mystery. New York, New Haven Philadelphia: Simon and Schuster, 2001. Print. Greenberg, Cheryl Lynn . Or Does It Explode?, Black Harlem In The Great Depression. Oxford University Press, USA, print. Heath, Dianne. "Occupation & Jobs In the Late 1930s to Early 1940s: A picture Narrative." Social Science Kilment, Bud. Billie Holiday. New York, New York: Chelsea House, 1990. Print Medley. N.p., 08 OCT 2011. History.com Staff . "Labor Movement." Labor Movement (2009): N.p., Web. 28 Mar 2014. <http://www.history.com/topics/labor>. History.com Staff . "Rosie the Riveter." Rosie the Riveter (2010): N.p., Web. 28 Mar 2014. <http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/rosie-the-riveter>. Holiday, Billie, and William Dufty. "Billie Holiday Interesting Facts ." Upper Fell's Point Improvement Associan 1985. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar 2014. <http://www.upperfellspoint.org/useful- resources/billie-holiday-interesting-facts/>.`
- 13. Works Cited Cont. Jeremy,John, dir. "Billie Holiday: The Long Night of Lady Day." American Masters. Public Broadcast Service: 04 Aug 1986. Television. <http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/billie-holiday/introduction/68/>. Kilment, Bud. Billie Holiday.New York, New York: Chelsea House, 1990. Print. Lamb, Ashley. "What About A feed Sack Dress?." www.ecu.edu. N.p., 17 Jan 2013. Web. 28 Mar 2014. <http://www.ecu.edu/cs-lib/reference/instruction/upload/30-Ashley-Lamb.pdf>. Nicholson, Stuart (1995). Billie Holiday. Boston: Northeastern University Press. ISBN 1-55553-303- 5. Riding, Daniel . "A Decade In Fashion: The 1930’s." A Decade In Fashion. Mens Fashion Magazine, 14 May 2013. Web. 28 Mar. 2014. <http://www.mensfashionmagazine.com/a-decade-in-fashion-the- 1930s>. The Great Depression n.d. The Public Broadcasting Channel Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ_lizW5zSI March 29, 2014 "The Official Website of Billie Holiday." Billie Holiday.com. The Bicycle Music Company. Web. 10 Apr 2014. <http://www.billieholiday.com/>. Web. 28 Mar. 2014. <http://www.socialsciencemedley.com/2011/10/occupations-jobs-employment- 1930-1940.html>.
Editor's Notes
- #3 Matt Schaefer
- #4 "American Masters." Billie Holiday, About the Singer. Educational Broadcasting Corporation, 08 Jun 2006. Web. 31 Mar 2014. < http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/billie-holiday/about-the-singer/68/> “Billie Holiday." 2014. The Biography Channel website. Mar 31 2014, 04:56 http://www.biography.com/people/billie-holiday-9341902.
- #5 Billie Holidays career spanned over 3 decades.At the height of her popularity, the country had nearly recovered from the Great Depression and was gearing up for World War II. This had a great influence on fashion, especially for women's fashion. The need to save money outweighed the need for new clothes so they would make their own clothes or remake clothing they already had. (Lamb) One of the most common forms of this is the creation of the feed sack dress. This trend gained popularity in the early forties when prominent women started to wear them they became in vogue. Men on the other hand didn’t see a big change. Notably, was the cut of the suit being more closely shaped to the body to conserve fabric. With the war effort going on, people went to work doing whatever work they could find to make America a better place. Women played a huge role in this as they took positions in factories, building aircraft and munitions in the place of men that had been drafted for the war. The most iconic symbol of this time was Rosy the Riveter. The campaign was created to stress the patriotic need for women to enter the workforce.(History.com) This was also an era where worker Unions had gained momentum and by the end of WWII there were over 12 million workers in unions.(History.com)“Billie Holiday.” Encyclopedia Britannica. 2014. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 28 Mar. 2014 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/269239/Billie-Holiday>. Heath, Dianne. "Occupation & Jobs In the Late 1930s to Early 1940s: A picture Narrative." Social Science Medley. N.p., 08 OCT 2011. Web. 28 Mar. 2014. <http://www.socialsciencemedley.com/2011/10/occupations-jobs-employment-1930-1940.html>. History.com Staff . "Labor Movement." Labor Movement (2009): N.p., Web. 28 Mar 2014. <http://www.history.com/topics/labor>. History.com Staff. "Rosie the Riveter." Rosie the Riveter (2010): N.p., Web. 28 Mar 2014. <http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/rosie-the-riveter>. Lamb, Ashley. "What About A feed Sack Dress?." www.ecu.edu. N.p., 17 Jan 2013. Web. 28 Mar 2014. <http://www.ecu.edu/cs-lib/reference/instruction/upload/30-Ashley-Lamb.pdf>. Riding, Daniel . "A Decade In Fashion: The 1930’s." A Decade In Fashion. Mens Fashion Magazine, 14 May 2013. Web. 28 Mar. 2014. <http://www.mensfashionmagazine.com/a-decade-in-fashion-the-1930s>. Ray Davis
- #6 The U.S. Presidents of the TimeBilly Holiday lived through 7 U.S. Presidents:1) Woodrow Wilson- March 4, 1913- March 4 1921 While Wilson was in office, the U.S. entered World War I in 1917.2) Warren G. Harding- March 4, 1921- August 2, 1923Harding was elected for the Senate in 1914 and later promoted for the 1920 Republican nomination by Harry Daugherty who said that “He looked like a President.” Harding died in 1923 of a heart attack.3) Calvin Coolidge- August 2, 1923- March 4, 1929 Coolidge found out that he was the president at 2:30 am on August 3, 1923. Coolidge was in retirement by the time the Great depression hit.4) Herbert Hoover- March 4, 1929- March 4, 1933Before his presidency, Hoover worked in China as a leading engineer at a private corporation. Hoover later became head of the Food Administration. Hoover also served as the Secretary of Commerce under Harding and Coolidge. 5) Franklin D. Roosevelt- March 4, 1933- April 12, 1945“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” – Roosevelt’s Inaugural Address. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the 5th cousin to Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt suffered from poliomyelitis when he was 39 years old. Roosevelt was president at the depth of the Great Depression, during the attack of Pearl Harbor, and while 13,000,000 people were unemployed. He died in 1945 of a cerebral hemorrhage. 6) Harry S. Truman- April 12, 1945- January 20, 1953Truman was a captain in the Field Artillery during World War I. Truman gained Japanese surrender by dropping atomic bombs over Japanese cities during the war.7) Dwight D. Eisenhower January 20 1953, January 20, 1961Eisenhower was a commanding general during World War II. “I like Ike” was the slogan used to win his presidency. In September 1955, he suffered a heart attack and was elected president for his second term in November.Brittney Bryant Works CitedThe White House. The Presidents. http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents
- #7 1. At the time this song was recorded and released racism was not a public topic although it was a public problem. Movements against racism did not begin until the 1960's. Dan’te
- #8 Perhaps one of Billie Holiday’s most notable compositions is the song “Miss Brown to You”. It was one of the first songs that bolstered her musical credibility. Talent scout John Hammond was amazed by her distinctive alto tone and smooth vocal phrases. He arranged her to record this track with two great collaborators of her time, Benny Goodman and Teddy Wilson. (Chilton 1975).In addition to Holiday’s rich vocals, the combination of Teddy Wilson’s swing piano style and the smoothness of Benny Goodman’s clarinet adds a lot of flavor to the song. The drum fills really add to the texture and the saxophone towards the last half ties it together. The song has no breaks in tempo but all the musicians have a way of giving each other space which gives it such great clarity.Billie Holiday had a certain mystique in her performances. She did not write this song, but she brings Emily Brown to life with the sincerity of her voice. Her adaptations of poetry to music and her unique style of singing captivated a worldwide audience.Works Cited:Chilton, John. Billie's Blues: The Billie Holiday Story, 1933-1959. London: Da Capo Press, 1975. Print.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTnoIDRxEbcJames Hinson
- #9 Matt Schaefer
- #10 Holiday, Billie, and William Dufty. "Billie Holiday Interesting Facts ." Upper Fells Point Improvement Association 1985. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar 2014. <http://www.upperfellspoint.org/useful-resources/billie-holiday-interesting-facts/>.
- #11 Jeremy, John, dir. "Billie Holiday: The Long Night of Lady Day." American Masters. Public Broadcast Service: 04 Aug 1986. Television. <http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/billie-holiday/introduction/68/>. "The Official Website of Billie Holiday." Billie Holiday.com. The Bicycle Music Company. Web. 10 Apr 2014. <http://www.billieholiday.com/>. Ray Davis
- #12 Life on the Road: The only economical way for bands to tour in the 1930’s was by bus. Billie Holiday spent much of her adult life with her band on their tour bus traveling from gig to gig. They would travel as much as 500 miles from city to city often sleeping on the bus to conserve hotel expenses. They spent much of their time playing music, card games, and shooting dice. (Kliment 1990).Benny Goodman: During the 1930’s instrumentalists were often the forerunners of the band and the vocalists were secondary. Benny Goodman was well known as one of the greatest Jazz musicians of his time. He was one of the first white band leaders to recruit black musicians. He was solely responsible for allowing Holiday to record her first record “Your Mother’s Son-in-Law. (Kliment 1990).Prohibition: The Prohibitive laws of the 20’s and 30’s began to enforce the ban on selling and distribution of alcohol and other substances. Smuggling of illegal substances began to take hold and many artists were exposed to these substances. Billie Holiday fell victim to heroin during this time and was believed to being under the influence during many performances. (Griffin, 2001).Living in Segregation: Billie Holiday was no exception to the Jim Crow segregation laws. She was often forbidden to perform at certain establishments and the ones she could perform in did not always come easy. The Benny Goodman Orchestra was scheduled to headline at the Lincoln Hotel in NYC in October 1938. In order to avoid upsetting the white guests, hotel management insisted Holiday walk through the kitchen to get to the stage, use the service elevator, and sit alone in a room upstairs instead of waiting with the band. (Kliment 1990).Swing Street: 52nd Street or “Swing Street” was the heart and soul of the Jazz community during the early to mid 40’s. Billie Holiday performed at many nightclubs and bars in the 52nd St area. It was here where Holiday built her following and established a reputation as the most sought after Jazz vocalists. (Kliment 1990).Works Cited:Kilment, Bud. Billie Holiday. New York, New York: Chelsea House, 1990. Print.Griffin, Farah Jasmine.If you can't be Free, Be a Mystery. New York, New Haven Philadelphia: Simon and Schuster, 2001. Print.Multimedia: Please go to link below for an excerpt to a Billie Holiday interview. http://blabberize.com/view?id=1109828(actual interview is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88x5vdh8nQY)James Hinson