Many have the ability to reach and touch people’s souls through their amazing gifts. Although this art of turning notes and lyrics into emotional imagery may somewhat come natural, the audience must wonder where their influence comes from. For Billie Holiday, her career was highly influenced by personal experience, the effects of the Great Depression, and the racial challenges of African Americans during her time. The Great Depression was a major historical event that affected thousands of Americans
Strange fruit is and amazing dark poem told by Billie Holiday as very powerful song. Strange Fruit is a terrifying protest against the inhumane acts of racism. Strange Fruit was about the murders and lynching going on in the south at the time from public hangings to burnings. The south has a cruel and terrifying past that haunts the very people who still live down there and remind them that only a short time ago was no one prosecuted for killing someone of dark skin since whole towns were involved
Billie was born to the name, Eleanora Fagan on April 7, 1915. She was born in Philadelphia but grew up in the Fell's Point section of Baltimore. Her mother, was just 13 at the time of her birth; her father, was 15. Holidays' teenage parents, Sadie Harris (aka Fagan) and probable father, Clarence Holiday, never married, and they did not live together for a long time. Clarence, a banjo and guitar player worked with Fletcher Henderson's band in the early 30s. He remains a shady figure who left his family
Billie Holiday Billie Holiday was born Eleanora Fagan on April 7, 1915 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but spent most of her poverty stricken childhood in Baltimore. Lady Day, as she was named by Lester Young, had to overcome many tragedies in her lifetime and yet still became one of the most popular jazz-blues vocalists of all time. Billie's Parents, Sally Fagan and Clarence Holiday, were both born in Baltimore. They married as teens and soon Sally gave birth to Eleanora Fagan. Shortly
The Voice of Billie Holiday A woman stands before you, and although she isn't a politician, she expresses her moving thoughts on issues that affect all Americans. Her voice isn't harsh or demanding in tone. Her stature is slender and traced in a shimmer of light that reflects from her dress. A southern magnolia is lying comfortably above her ear. She sings. She sings of incomprehension, of hate, and of a race's pain. She sings low and confused. She sings as "Our Lady of Sorrow"(Davis 1)
Billie Holiday was an African-American and she was born in April, 7, 1915 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She had no formal music education when she was step into the stage of the club platform to sing. She had an amazing voice and several producers appreciated her talents and promoted her to become a recognition jazz singer. Her addiction of drugs and alcohol ultimately damaged her liver and heart. She was pledged to guilty in court when the police found a possession of an illegal substance in her
Billie Holiday was a famous Harlem Renaissance jazz and blues singer. Her voice took on the emotion of the song, which was a quality not many singers had. Those strong emotions might have come from her cruel and misfortunate past. Holiday recorded many songs, but there was one song that made a huge impact. That song was Strange Fruit, a poem by Abel Meeropol that was set to music. The title came from the analogy that compared the lynched bodies of two men to fruit that hung on trees. Though Holiday
Legendary jazz songstress Billie Holiday once said in response to the exclusion of African Americans from jazz clubs on the notorious 52nd Street, “You can be up to your boobies in white satin, with gardenias in your hair and no sugar cane for miles, but you can still be working on a plantation.” The comparison between the jazz world, or more specifically 52nd Street, and a plantation show the immense racial tension between blacks and whites in the early to mid part of the twentieth century. In
Personally one of my favorite artists of all time, Billie Holiday, is known to be a true artist known in American pop and jazz history. She lived an emotional and challenging life, with plenty of stories to tell and enough sorrow to fill a songbook. Holiday sang with incredible profundity, sophistication, and her unique vocals is still considered to be one of the greatest jazz voices of all time. Billie Holiday, born Eleanora Fagan Gough on April 7th, 1915 was born in Baltimore, Maryland. She was
Billie Holiday was an African-American jazz singer and songwriter.Billie Holiday was the biological child of Sadie Fagan and Clarence Holiday. Sadie was thirteen when she had Billie. At the same time, Clarence was an irresponsible father who did not care about his daughter's Billie. From Billie's early life, she grew up in a broken family. In other word, she had no father to support throughout her childhood and her mother who was struggling financially as a teen mom that often neglect the time to
It was no wonder why Billie Holiday was considered to be the woman of jazz, her sweet velvet voice carried the crowd. With hits like strange fruit that told a darker story it was easy to see where her passion came from. She told stories in her music and people across the nation were more than willing to sit down and listen to what she had to say. Billie Holiday was an icon of her time and there was not a person who listened to jazz that could say they did not know her name. Her voice was smooth with
Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday were both prominent jazz singer-songwriters during the same time and masters in their own right, but their worlds could not have been further apart. In 1939, while they were both in the midst of experiencing mainstream success, Ella was touring with Ella and her Famous Orchestra and showcasing her perfect pitch and tone to the world while singing songs that would soon become standards to fellow singers and musicians. Billie was singing solo, comfortable with her
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
Jazz the Sound of the Heart In a blog written by Virginia Hughes she states that “Music moves people of all cultures, Vocal Jazz and collaborations with other sub-genres such as bebop jazz, cool jazz and hard bob didn’t only affected the culture throughout the eras, but created an outlet for many artists to express their repressed feelings during difficult time periods, and allowed a strong rooted foundation for Jazz in whole to continue to develop. “Vocal Jazz” has been able to touch the deepest
affected many African-Americans lives. Billie Holiday was able to bring out this tragic enslavement of African-Americans and describe how they were treated back in the 20's. Strange Fruit, a poem by Abel Meeropol, which was later picked up by Billie Holiday and formed into a song is one way jazz has incorporated into political discourse. This song describes the lynching of African-Americans in the south and a protest against the inhumanity of racism. Billie Holiday singing this song and introducing this
where Frank O 'Hara discusses the infamous day that his beloved idol Billie Holiday passed away. Billie Holiday was a famous American jazz musician
“Southern trees bear strange fruit, Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze, Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees” Strange fruit was written in 1937. For a protest poem, ostensibly intended to give voice to an explicit political agenda, “Strange Fruit” oddly provides no identifiable perspective. Written by Abel Meeropol in 1937 and first published under the title “Bitter Fruit”, the poem was initially intended as a harsh indictment of racial
and, eventually, took part in the lynching of African Americans. “Strange Fruit”, a poem written by Abel Meeropol, and the song being performed by Billie Holiday, is a poem that demonstrates the horror of the author to discover the happenings of a lynching and to see the image of one taking place. The poem was widely known as a song sung by Billie Holiday in 1939 and was written and published by Abel Meeropol in 1937 being the first literary writing to publicly object lynching. Abel Meeropol was a
The magnificent stories of Billie Holiday, the great Louis Armstrong, and Adelaide Hall are about how they struggled, conquered, and worked through the Harlem Renaissance. From realizing they all left an impact on the world. They were very successful African American musicians. It takes a lot to write and express different feelings especially to the world, but they all did in song and in action. Billie Holiday was born April 7, 1915, in Pennsylvania. Her birth name was Eleanora Logan Gough; her birth
“Strange Fruit” because black people who were lynched had a higher rate than other race in the History of United States. This proves evidence that white people who are racist only wanted to lynch blacks for no reason. This connection to the part when Billie said, “For the Sun to rot / for the tree to drop / here is a Strange and Bitter Crop”. After time pass by, the hanging bodies would rot on their rope from the sun until eventually the body would fall apart and drop to the grass below. This part is