Billie Holiday

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Philadelphia, United States (1915 – 1959)

Billie Holiday (Eleanora Fagan Gough, Philadelphia, PA, April 7, 1915 – New York City, NY, July 17, 1959) was an American jazz singer and songwriter.

Nicknamed Lady Day by her loyal friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday was a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. Above all, she was admired for her deeply personal and intimate approach to singing. Critic John Bush wrote that she “changed the art of American pop vocals forever. ” She co-wrote only a few songs, but several of them have become jazz standards, notably “God Bless The Child,” “Don’t Explain,” and “Lady Sings The Blues.” She also became famous for singing jazz standards written by others, including “Easy Living” and “Strange Fruit.”

Billie Holiday had a difficult childhood, which greatly affected her life and career. Not much is known about the true details of her early life, though stories of it appeared in her autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues, first published in 1956 and later revealed to contain many inaccuracies.

Her professional pseudonym was taken from Billie Dove, an actress she admired, and Clarence Holiday, her probable father. At the outset of her career, she spelled her last name “Halliday”, presumably to distance herself from her neglectful father, but eventually changed it back to “Holiday”.
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Popular tags: jazz, blues, female vocalists, jazz vocal, vocal jazz  See more

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  • headey

    Check BH with other artists too.

    last week

  • TheMukeyMu

    soothing stuff

    last week

  • ThisDominon

    Fantastic singer, I've seen a ten cd boxset out there of her material... I want it!

    19 days ago

  • Sentenzia22

    Tribute to Megaupload R.I.P: http://www.lastfm.es/group/We'll+miss+you%2C+Megaupload

    21 days ago

  • Billie_Jean_Is

    I love Billie. She's one of the most talented and unique vocalists of all time. The tone of her voice is totally unmistakable, not to mention her manner of singing. Thank you, Billie; your music will live forever because you put your soul into it.

    22 days ago

  • GlamorousRipper

    Gloomy Sunday

    last month

  • PrettyFlacko

    what albums should i start with? o.o

    last month

  • petala_leite

    my heart is telling you how much i wanted you...

    last month

  • thrillseeker01

    gloomy sunday,then strange fruit.unbeatable

    last month

  • ChiiiVW

    You've changed.

    last month

  • VK1990

    Crazy He Calls Me

    last month

  • barbudean

    billie holiday is my roomie.

    last month

  • zombierosie

    R.I.P. Billie Holiday, you've inspired and helped me through many things.

    last month

  • instinctus

    влюбился раз и навсегда

    last month

  • Cheburaloid

    чо блять за О????? О_о

    last month

  • minuszeroLastFM

    check 'More Info' @ bottom-right: "Is this artist name wrong or misspelt?" Submit a correction!

    last month

  • AlecHawk

    sO uh

    last month

  • PseudoHaptic

    Someone really wanted to emphasize the "HO" in Holiday, trollololol.

    last month

  • ohh1972

    LOL, looks like I'm not the only one who came here because of the O in the name. Somebody should really change that.

    last month

  • fh_lima

    what happened with her name? lol

    last month
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$6.99 MP3 Album Sale on Artist with April Birthdays

23 Apr 2010 | from blog.myspace.com/Billie Holiday

$6.99 MP3 Albums From Artists with April Birthdays: Roy Orbison, Marvin Gaye, Billie Holiday and more - only at AMIE STREET!

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