Billie Holiday: A Different Account “Billie Holiday: The Musician and the Myth” was written by John Szwed and published in 2015 by Penguin Random House. Szwed’s resume includes professor of anthropology at Yale, professor of music at Columbia University and professional jazz musician. He has written a number of books, including several on jazz musicians. Many books have been written on Billie Holiday, including several biographies and an autobiography. Most of the writings have focused mainly on her personal life, stressing her troubles, and less on her music. Szwed’s goal was to change that and to educate people on who she was as an artist. “What I have tried to do is write a different kind of book…one that sets her life in the particular
Billie Holiday was a musician like no other. She is known for saying “No two people on earth are alike, and it’s got to be that way in music or it isn’t music” (PBS). Holiday created her own style of music. She sang with so much feeling and emotion that she captured not only the attention, but the hearts of her audience. Holiday lived in a time when racism was prevalent and racial equality was nonexistent. She used her platform to speak up for what she believed in. “Holiday debuted Strange Fruit in a 1939 performance at Cafe Society, New York's first integrated nightclub” (Monir). “The song Strange Fruit was written by Abel Meeropol as a poem” (Monir). The poem was written about the lynching of African Americans. Holiday was courageous enough to sing the song even though it was not acceptable to speak of these things during that time. Billie Holiday was a respected musician who left her mark on the
In my opinion, one of the most important aspects is the part that recognizes her role models. According to the book, Holiday’s role models were Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith. “More precisely, she said that she wanted to achieve the style of Louis Armstrong and the feeling of Bessie Smith, style perhaps meaning the way Armstrong sang, his technique, and feeling being the emotions awakened by Smith’s singing” (Szwed 108). I believe it is important to have role models, someone who inspires you. It’s interesting to know who Holiday’s role models were, being that she was such a distinct artist. I also believe that a role model is not necessarily who you strive to become, but rather who you respect enough to look to for guidance in forming your own
In 1933 Billie audition as a dancer when she was 18, but the judges said she was not good enough so they asked her if she could sing-she could. In 1939 Billy sang at a café called Café Society and the song was “Strange Fruit”. Holiday wanted the song to be recorded but it was forbidden because it was “too inflammatory” Strange Fruit is a song about racism. She did not want to sing it on many radio stations because they banned all the intense words in the song. She could have been killed by the Koo Klucks Klan if she sang that song. Promoters objected Billie Holiday because of her race. The style of her voice-often tries to sound like a horn instrument because she likes the sliding sound. She refused to sing like other singers. Billie slyly said on a radio interview,”I always wanted to sound like an instrument.” She changed her name to Billie Holiday because her favorite film star, Billie Dove. In 1944 Billie Holiday received the Esquire Magazine Gold Award for Best Leading Female Vocalist. She would then receive some more awards in the following years to come. She got the nickname “Lady Day”. She was discovered by John Hammond, a young producer at Monette’s, a Harlem night club. When he heard Billie’s voice he was
Artists write about what they know; they pull feelings from their heart and their songs relay what the artists’ emotions, whether it be of their hometown, their high school crush, or their experiences. Many artists that came to fame during the twentieth century have a fair share of experiences they share with us in the form of their songs. The twentieth century is comprised of the institution of slavery and its effects, war, gender norms, discrimination based on nationality, sex, race, etc., and countless events that sparked protests and uproars in the United States. Music at this time was a phenomenon, and artists could use it to their advantage. Artists used their music to spread awareness about their cause, influence their listeners, and
The music is vocal instrumental sounds (or both) combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony and expression of emotion. The most famous music during the Renaissance is Jazz and some Rock and Roll instruments are very important during that time too it’s still important till this day. The three people I decide to tell you about are Billie Holiday, Cab Calloway, and the last person I really enjoyed learning about was Louis Armstrong.
Ella Fitzgerald has come to herself multiple nicknames on account of her amazing voice. For example, she has been called to “First Lady of Song” (“Ella Fitzgerald”) and “The Queen of Jazz”) “(10 Interesting Ella Fitzgerald Facts”). She was also famous for being a master of dance. Ella has been given these names and credits of fame do with her talent. No one could scat like her. In fact, she made a wide spread of Jazz and scat music (“Ella Fitzgerald was the master of scat singing”). After all, Scat singing was Ella’s trade mark.
Carole King’s early experiences as a product of an unhealthy relationship and in her own relationship with Gerry were difficult, and as she began a songwriting career, she started to find it challenging to balance conforming with society’s ideals for women and having to work hard to be considered a strong talent in the business. Women had not been a large part of the songwriting scene before Carole’s time, so in addition to struggling within her marriage, she had to blaze her own trail as a working mother. For example, “Carole went back to writing songs with Gerry almost immediately after giving birth” (Weller 48). Her ability to flourish in an environment that was not welcoming or accommodating to women, much less mothers, proved that women
The stories of the African American journey and perspective told through jazz songs introduced society to the struggle of blacks everywhere and eventually allowed to develop a sense of purpose. Firstly, ”The true story of jazz,
Gwendolyn Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas on June 7, 1917, but was raised in the slums of Chicago, Illinois. Ms. Brooks developed a love for poetry and the arts at an early age. As a child, she was an introvert and focused more on reading books than having a social life. In an interview with Ebony magazine, she shared that her lack of ability in several childhood activities discouraged her to interact with her peers. “I couldn’t skate, I was never a good rope-jumper, and I can remember thinking I must be a very inferior kind of child since I couldn’t play jacks” (Gwen Brooks Bio). Her artistic roots stemmed from her respectable upbringing by her parents, who both had a love of education and culture. Keziah Brooks, her mother, composed songs and “storyettes” to amuse her children (Gwen Brooks Bio). David Brooks, her father, read them daily selections from his prized set of Harvard Classics (Gwen
In her autobiographical novel, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou relates her story as a poor black girl living in racially segregated Stamps, Arkansas. As the story unfolds, she describes relationships with her family and members of the community, her love of reading, her feeling of inequality, the racial prejudice she suffers, and her experiences as a single mother. What makes Angelou heroic is her perseverance over a multitude of odds. In the beginning of the novel, the reader learns that Angelou is living with her grandmother because her birth mother abandoned her. With no direction or positive influence in her life, a white woman introduced her to “her first white love” – William Shakespeare –who befriended Angelou. Reading
Don't you think that Billie Jo and her family had a rough time? Because i think they did they lost so much and it was just terrible for all of them her friend left, the plants died, and her mother died with her little brother, so now that you know what they've been through you surely should feel sorry for them all just listen to how bad this paragraph about the whole life of Billie Jo and i bet you”ll think that it sad for all the people that had to go through with all this.
In Billie Holiday’s I’ll be Seeing You there are references to childishness and comfort. When the lyrics talk about the “The park across the way” and “The children's carousel” it relates to the motif of adults being childlike. Bucky’s is immaturity is shown in his love of sports, his lack of desire to be respected, and his consumption of junk food. Although some adults have and/or do these things they are still associated with growing up. Additionally, it seems as if Billie Holiday is comforting the other person [presumably male] just as Marcia comforts Bucky. Billie is constantly telling the receiver of this song, “I’ll be seeing you,” and Marcia makes Bucky come to see her. This reversal of typical gender roles as a parallel to I’ll be Seeing
The singer, Billie Holiday, had also shaped her career during the Harlem Renaissance. Holiday had actually performed with Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, in her teenage years. Holiday was said to have had an extremely unique sound to her voice. As Wisely and Copeland say, “she pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo.” Before her career had officially taken off, Billie Holiday often performed in small jazz clubs in cities. In 1930, Holiday performed with Laurence Jackson in many Harlem clubs. Just five years later, in 1935, Billie signed to Brunswick Records, and collaborated with Teddy Wilson. Billie had hits that would later become the building blocks to early American jass. It is hard to believe that she had gotten that far despite the fact that, unlike most artists, she had no professional training.
Bessie Smith impacted Billie Holiday because Holiday learned a lot through Smith’s records by thinking that Smith was kind of a teacher. Even though Billie Holiday did not have a voice as powerful as Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday’s musical interpretations and phrasing were similar to Bessie Smith. Frank Sinatra was impacted by Bessie Smith because he believed that she was an early blues genius. Sinatra’s voice was more polished than Smith’s voice, but he did find inspiration in the emotions she sang with in the records. Bessie Smith was a highly influential artist that had the power to help people with their music even after her death proving that she truly is “The Empress of Blues” ("Bessie Smith"
For example, Billie Holiday’s song “The Strange Fruit”, protested the lynching of African Americans. She sings, "Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze / Here is fruit for the crows to pluck / For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck / For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop" (lines 9-12). Her use of metaphors help listeners understand the pain that African Americans went through. Essentially, Holiday’s song struck so much emotion and perfectly portrayed the suffrage of African-Americans and thus promoted social change. Moreover, “Roll Jordan Roll” written by Charles Wesley, was a song sung by slaves that are about them seeking freedom. It is said: ”I said roll, Jordan, roll / Roll, Jordan, roll / My soul ought to rise in heaven, Lord / For the year when Jordan rolls” (lines 5-8). This song was sung to spread hope among others slaves. “Roll, Jordan, Roll” alludes to the Biblical reference of the River Jordan, which Israelites used to escape from Egyptians to enter the Promised Land. The River Jordan can be interpreted as The Mississippi River or The Ohio River to signify a direction of an escape. If they used these rivers, they were able to flee to Canada to be free. Therefore, this song contributes to social change because slaves sang this song to represent the crossing from persecution to freedom (Historical Society). As a result, music played an important outlet of expression for African Americans because it argued against social injustice by showing their struggles faced by African
Another one is obviously because she is my mother, I respect her, and I love her to death. My other role model is Yvonne Strahovski, the actress from ‘Chuck’ because if you watched her in interviews and videos, you can see that she is humane, sweet, intelligent, fun, talented and a strong woman. She supports and gives money to charities such as St. Jude’s Hospital. She supports animal rights and she adopted a dog from an animal foundation. She is a great example of a good role model. I used to look up to Selena and I still do, I loved all her songs and she had a beautiful
Many of us have role models in our lives and to most people role models are athletes and movie stars, but to me a role model is much more. To me a role model is a person who has positively influenced someone in life, and is not a person filled with selfishness and greed. They help shape someone’s personality, and characteristics. They are people who someone can look up to for advice in a hard situation, and know that they will give those words of wisdom. They will never judge our past actions, instead only look to help because they really care. A role model is someone who we should never feel awkward talking to about our problems. A perfect role model for me is my mother. She is a wonderful human being. She’s smart, wise, ambitious, patient and such a loving person. There are no words that can describe my gratitude towards her, but through this essay I will describe some of her characteristics that makes her my role model.