A Comparison Of Billie Holiday And Cher

Music itself has been around for as long as history has been recorded and even in America to as far back as when the slaves were brought over from Africa. While there has been many changes to the music we listen to today compared to the way music was played in previous years, there is no doubt that music is a true reflection of the American Society today. Music is a huge part of American life today as stated by William K. Kilpatrick,

“[We] tend to learn something more easily and indelibly if it’s set to a rhyme or song. Advertisers know this and use it so effectively that we sometimes have difficulty getting their jingles out of our heads... Most of us learned the alphabet this way and some of our history as well (“Paul Revere’s Ride,”

Billie Holiday was one of the greatest Jazz vocalists of all time and came from a period where discrimination and cruelty against African Americans was very much alive, while Cher, one of the most popular artists during the 1960s through 80s came from a period of Gypsies Tramps and Thieves. These two women were known for their strong will to confront sexism and racism head on through their music. While their lives were extremely different, their music spoke similarly on the subjects of culture and society of the two separate time

This song was so controversial, “Columbia, her record company at the time, was not interested in Strange Fruit” (Bio). Holiday’s recording became one of her signature songs because of the powerful meaning behind it. This song was about the lynching’s of African American that occurred in the south. Billie was not afraid to expose the truth about the American society at this time. As an African American herself, this encouraged Holiday to display the true conditions and treatment of the African American people by whites in America. Even though slavery had been abolished at this point, the Jim Crowe laws and torturing of the now freed slaves still greatly existed. It had become one of those things that everyone knew existed, but no one talked about. However, Billie Holiday found a way to gain everyone’s attention through her music and uncover the truth of what was really going on in