 Eleanora "Billy"
Holiday was one of the greatest jazz-blues singers of all time. Born and raised in
Baltimore, Md., she moved to New York City in the late 1920s and began singing in Harlem
nightclubs. After a recording session in 1935, she was vocalist with various orchestras,
including those of Count Basie and Artie Shaw, and made many recordings with the
saxophonist Lester Young and with the pianist Teddy Wilson. Throughout the 1940s and '50s
Holiday appeared in clubs around the U.S. with great success, although her voice
increasingly showed the effects of her long-term heroin addiction. She died in
Metropolitan Hospital, New York City, while under arrest for possession of illegal drugs.
Holiday rarely sang traditional blues, but her reputation rests on her ability to
transform popular songs into emotionally profound pieces. Her autobiography, Lady Sings
the Blues, inspired a 1972 movie of the same name. |
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