By: Jaclyn Breeze
Eleanora Fagan Gough, better known as Billie Holiday was born in Pennsylvania in 1915. Billie was a singer with a unique style that made her a well known and highly sought after singer. She began performing in her early teens in Baltimore, and moved to New York City soon after where she started singing at jazz clubs and nightclubs. Although she never learned how to read music, she was an active participant in the jazz scene as it transitioned into the Swing Era. She worked as a studio musician going into her 20s, and from then on she was known by and worked with lots of different small groups and jazz orchestras, but always made each song her own. In 1938, Artie Shaw invited her to sing with his Orchestra, making Billie the first black woman to work with a white band.
Billie’s best-known piece is a poem titled “Strange Fruit” set to music for her. This song is considered to be the first protest song of the civil rights era. It was such a controversial piece that Billie’s record label refused to record it, so Billie found a new label and recorded the piece that instantly became both a cultural spark and a hit song.
Billie died in 1959 of heart failure. Since her death, she has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the ASCAP Jazz Wall Hall of Fame. There is a statue of Billie in Baltimore with additional panels inspired by “Strange Fruit.” Two films are based on Billie’s life, Lady Sings the Blues, and The United States vs. Billie Holiday. The latter focuses on her legacy as a civil rights leader.
Listen to some of her work:
Book: Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday and the Power of a Protest Song by Gary Golio
Find it at these Monroe County Public Libraries, or have it delivered to a library near you! (Hold/delivery fees have been removed as of Jan. 2024)
Arnett
Brighton
Central
Fairport
Henrietta
Pittsford
Webster
Wheatley
