Essay Billie Holiday - 1341 Words

Many jazz artists as we know it are quite talented. Their talents are unique in that they can translate human emotion through singing or playing their instruments. 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 during the 1930s. It was a time in which economic decline left people without†¦show more content†¦These first lines in the song portrays the longing and loneliness she felt. Further into the song she sings, â€Å"Soft winds blowing through the pinewood trees, folks down there live a life of ease.† Here, Billie sings about life down south and refers to Baltimore where she grew up. The â€Å"soft winds blowing through the pinewood trees† can be construed as Baltimore. â€Å"Folks down there live a life of ease,† compares the difficulties she endures in Harlem to the care free life somewhere else. In 1933, during Billie Holiday’s early years of her career, â€Å"The Depression was now underway. The few playing gigs in the music industry were taken by whites, and blacks faced â€Å"insurmountable odds. . . against achieving any sort of recognition without help.†Ã¢â‚¬  (Jackson, pg. 86) Billie stopped working as a prostitute and began singing at night clubs and speakeasies in Harlem. The New York nightlife is where John Hammond would discover her. He introduced her to many prestigious jazz musicians and promoted her unparallel sound. Billie Holiday played on the radio where she became recognized as a female singer within the jazz industry. Without the help of John Hammond, Billie may not have had a chance as a singer. â€Å"He is widely credited with having discovered many of these artists, and while the use of that ambiguous wordShow MoreRelated Billie Holiday Essay1129 Words   |  5 PagesBillie Holiday, whose real name is Eleanora Gough, was born in Philade lphia Pennsylvania in 1915. She grew up mostly in Baltimore and always loved jazz. Billie was born to very young parents. Her mother was thirteen when she was born and her father just fifteen. (www.numberonestars.com, 2010) Her father made his living as a jazz musician and later he left Billie’s mother. Billie was raised by her mother and grandparents. Billie was not a happy child and eventually left school at an early ageRead More Billie Holiday Essay examples2164 Words   |  9 PagesBillie 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.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Billies Parents, Sally Fagan and Clarence Holiday, were both born in Baltimore. They married as teens and soon Sally gave birth to Eleanora Fagan. ShortlyRead MoreEssay about Billie Holiday918 Words   |  4 Pages Billie was born to the name, Eleanora Fagan on April 7, 1915. She was born in Philadelphia but grew up in the Fells 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 Hendersons band in the early 30s. He remains a shady figure who leftRead More The Voice of Billie Holiday Essay1498 Words   |  6 PagesThe Voice of Billie Holiday      Ã‚  Ã‚   A woman stands before you, and although she isnt a politician, she expresses her moving thoughts on issues that affect all Americans. Her voice isnt 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 races pain. She sings low and confused. She sings as Our Lady of Sorrow(DavisRead MoreMost Influential Jazz Singer, Billie Holiday693 Words   |  3 PagesBillie Holiday The Harlem Renaissance was an African American cultural movement specifically in creative arts such as music and literature. Jazz represented the flavor and zest of African American culture in the 1920s-1940s. Billie Holiday had a great impact on the Harlem Renaissance because she was one of the most influential jazz singers of all time. She performed with other great jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Teddy Wilson, Jo Jones, and Henry Allen. Her career as a jazz singer wasRead More Billie Holiday Essay example652 Words   |  3 Pages To understand the controversy that Billie presented one must first go to the root or source of such controversy and examine Billies childhood. Billie was born Eleanora Harris to her father Clarence Holiday and mother Sadie Fagan who were just fifteen and thirteen years old, respectively, at the time (A 91). Born between 1912 and 1915 in Baltimore, the date unsure, Billie grew up without her father, who moved away early on in her life. Billie and her mother used to fight a lot, when her motherRead MoreWomen s Influence On The Early Years Of Jazz1181 Words   |  5 Pagesrecording was in 1933, with John Hammond, Jack Teagarden and Benny Goodman (Bessie Smith†). Billie Holiday was born in Philadephia, Pennsylvania and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. Her father was guitarist Clarence Holiday who declined to acknowledge her as his daughter until she became famous. In her early years, she worked as a menial laborer and was even arrested for prostitution (Giddins et al. 2009). Holiday was a vocalist singing in clubs when John Hammond saw her performing. He invited her toRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem The Blood On The Leaves By Abel Meeropol1509 Words   |  7 PagesAmerica, like Meeropol said in 1971. After Meeropol wrote this poem, he wanted to find an artist that could put the poem to music and really bring out it’s true meaning. In the end, he chose Billie Holiday to sing his poem. Billie Holiday, to this day is most famous for â€Å"her† song â€Å"Strange Fruit†. Billie Holiday really dug deep in order to pull the true emotion out of this poem in her singing. The song was first performed in 1939 at a night club in New York called Cafà © Society. â€Å"She was afraid to singRead MoreThe Blues, By Bessie Smith And Billie Holliday1744 Words   |  7 Pageswhen it first began. Blues music originated in plantations, where slaves sung, using it as a mental escape method from their oppression. Even though it started off in a simple way, it eventually turned into a serious entertainment. Bessie Smith and Billie Holliday, two well-known blues female singers, became hit sensations. Blues started in the South, long ago, when slavery was still socially accepted. Slaves were severely oppressed because they were legally bound to their masters. One way they foundRead MoreThe Music Of The 1930 S2203 Words   |  9 Pagesremembered today. Jazz music was highly popular in this time, and Billie Holiday was a famous jazz performer. She stood out from many other musicians because of her intense and passionate performances. Jazz arose from â€Å"unacceptable† segments of society, but quickly grew like wildfire. We often think of the 1930’s as the decade that jazz became civilized, and famous throughout popular culture through the work of pioneering artists like Billie Holiday. People did not own televisions or cable, so radio was their