Billie Holiday's Emotional Life example essay topic

Billie was born to the name, Eleanor a 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 30's. He remains a shady figure who left his family. Clarence would often be away from home, and during the stay with Henderson, which lasted until 1932, the guitarist severed connections with the Fagan. Billie was an angry chile who lived a hard life. She was raped at the age of 10 soon she dropped out of school at an early age and began working as a prostitute with her mother. She was sent to a home for wayward girls, and soon was arrested and served four months in prison for prostitution.

"Somebody once said we never know what is enough until we know what's than enough" (billie holiday) Holiday's deprived history proves she had learned how to survive extreme poverty, race prejudice and the injustice of black ghetto life by the time she was a young teen. swing: Since Holiday had very little schooling and no formal musical training, her extraordinary creative gifts were intuitive in the first place. She developed her singing in New York speakeasies and Harlem nightclubs such as Pods' and Jerry's Log Cabin, the Yeah Man, Monette Moore's Supper Club, the Hot-Cha, Alabama Grill and Dickie Wells' place. She also sang at the local Elks club in order to pick up a few extra dollars. She was the starving musician, the jazz singer who did all she could to stay alive and still do what she loves. The dedication she displayed to jazz is not easy to explain. She was a perfectionist in her fashion, depending upon her excellent ear, unique voice and honesty and love for people to keep her love alive.

Billie Holiday spent 1934 moving up the rungs of the competitive New York bar scene. By early 1935, she made her debut at the Apollo Theater and appeared in a one-reeler film with Duke Ellington She made her first record with Benny Goodman. In 1935, she got her big breakthrough when she recorded four sides, which featured What a Little Moonlight Can Do, and Miss Brown to You. She made the songs classics because of her singing ability. Her voice-quality wasn't outstanding and her vocal range was limited, but she had an uncanny ability to breathe life into a song, using things like pauses and slurs -- which made the song become a story or an experience, rather than just a group of notes sang with a voice. During 1936, Holiday toured with groups led by Jimmie Lunceford and Fletcher Henderson, then went back to New York for several more recording sessions.

In later January of 1937, she recorded several songs with a small group from one of Hammond's newest discoveries, Count Basie's Orchestra. Tenor Lester Young, who'd known Billie from previous engagements, and trumpeter Buck Clayton were to become especially attached to Holiday. The three did much of their best recorded work together during that time, and Holiday herself got the nickname Pres on Young. She also got the nickname Lady Day, because she was so elegant. By spring of 1937, she began touring with Basie as the female singer in his group. Jimmy Rushing was his male singer, and him and Billie got along real well and had many good performances together...

The association lasted less than a year, however. Though officially she was fired from the band for being temperamental and unreliable, she refused to sing the way they wanted her too, she wanted to sing her own unique way and wouldn't be told otherwise. Though her artistry was at its best, Billie Holiday's emotional life began a turbulent period during the mid-'40's. Already heavily into alcohol and marijuana, she began smoking opium with her first husband, Johnnie Monroe. The marriage didn't last, but soon after came a second marriage to trumpeter Joe Guy and an introduction to heroin.

Although her and her new husband tried running their own orchestra, it cost them a ton of money. Her mother's death soon after changed her deeply, and in 1947 she was arrested for possession of heroin and sentenced to eight months in prison. Unfortunately, Holiday's troubles only continued after she got out of prison. The drug charge made it impossible for her to get a cabaret card, so nightclub performances were out of the question. Holiday responded positively, if unwisely, to some changes in her musical and social atmosphere. Already a drinker, smoker of tobacco and marijuana, she was having troublesome love affairs, nothing new to her, but on August 25th 1941 she married Jimmy Monroe.

It was a decision that did nothing to better her situation, They had an unhealthy relationship and got a divorce in 1945. From here on her life didnt seem to get any better. From the 50's on, Holiday and trouble seemed often to go hand in hand, but later she appeared in England during 1954 to great acclaim, and in 1956, her outspoken autobiography brought increased fame. In 1957, Holiday was still making good money but by the following year the drink and drugs crucially influenced her vocal control, and the 'hoarsely eloquent voice' had increased in hoarseness. She lived a short life, then she died.