Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Impact of billie holiday
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Impact of billie holiday
Billie Holiday was known for being an awesome Jazz singer. She was born April 7th, 1915, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a teenage Sadie Fagan.1 Holiday’s father (Believed to be Clarence Holiday, who was a successful jazz musician.) Left Sadie and Holiday. He did not acknowledge billie at all until after her first big success in jazz singing. 2 Holiday started skipping school, and her mother went to court over her absence. In January of 1925, Holiday was sent to a facility for troubled african american girls. She was the supposed to be there until an adult, but went back home in August the same year.3 Soon after, Holiday’s mother also left her and moved to new york, Holiday also moved to New York as well.4 around 1930, at the age of 15(ish) …show more content…
She continued to sing, but, in 1947, she was arrested and sent to prison for nine months due to having illegal drugs (heroin). In 1956, She wrote an Autobiography called “Lady Sings the Blues”. Nowadays, they made a movie after this book, also called “Lady Sings the Blues”. After she wrote this book, she was, again, arrested for having illegal drugs. This time, however, Holiday was not put in prison. Instead, the police sent her to seek treatment to stop her dependence on these drugs. After a while, she found treatment, and the treatment she found worked. Even though she was no longer addicted to these drugs, The drugs ruined her health. During her second major singing, in 1959, she sang two songs, and during the third, she had to be carried off the stage. She died later due to illnesses caused by the drugs she used to be dependent on, and alcohol. She was only 44. Billie Holiday was not a very notable person until, in 1933, she got some publicity. She was very good at what she did, and she was very well known, but she lost her fight against drugs in 1959, when she had to be carried off-stage at her last performance, after singing only two songs.7 She had a huge influence on many other singers and jazz muscitionists of that
Ethel Waters overcame a very tough childhood to become one of the most well-known African American entertainers of her time. Her story, The Eye on the Sparrow, goes into great detail about her life and how she evolved from taking care of addicts to becoming the star of her own show. Ethel was born to her mother, being raped at a young age. Her father, John Waters, was a pianist who played no role in Ethel’s life. She was raised in poverty and it was rare for her to live in the same place for over a year.
Ella was born in Newport News, Virginia on April 25, 1917. When alled “The First Lady of Song” by some fans. She was known for having beautiful tone, extended range, and great intonation, and famous for her improvisational scat singing. Ella sang during the her most famous song was “A-tiscket A-tasket”. Fitzgerald sang in the period of swing, ballads, and bebop; she made some great albums with other great jazz artists such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Louis Armstrong. She influenced countless American popular singers of the post-swing period and also international performers such as the singer Miriam Makeba. She didn’t really write any of her own songs. Instead she sang songs by other people in a new and great way. The main exception
In 1933 Billie audition as a dancer when she was 18, but the judges said she was not good enough so they asked her if she could sing-she could. In 1939 Billy sang at a café called Café Society and the song was “Strange Fruit”. Holiday wanted the song to be recorded but it was forbidden because it was “too inflammatory” Strange Fruit is a song about racism. She did not want to sing it on many radio stations because they banned all the intense words in the song. She could have been killed by the Koo Klucks Klan if she sang that song. Promoters objected Billie Holiday because of her race. The style of her voice-often tries to sound like a horn instrument because she likes the sliding sound. She refused to sing like other singers. Billie slyly said on a radio interview,”I always wanted to sound like an instrument.” She changed her name to Billie Holiday because her favorite film star, Billie Dove. In 1944 Billie Holiday received the Esquire Magazine Gold Award for Best Leading Female Vocalist. She would then receive some more awards in the following years to come. She got the nickname “Lady Day”. She was discovered by John Hammond, a young producer at Monette’s, a Harlem night club. When he heard Billie’s voice he was
A dancer, singer, activist and spy, Josephine Baker was a star and a hero. Baker grew up poor, but her rocky start did not hold her back from success. Baker had major achievements for a black woman in her time; she was the first African-American to star in a major film. Baker was first to integrate a concert in Las Vegas. Even though Baker got her start during the Harlem Renaissance, her true claim to fame was her success in France. She was the first black woman to receive military honor in France. Since Baker was so successful in Europe, she was able to spy for the French resistance during World War II. Although Baker was very successful in France and had found success during the Harlem Renaissance, she was not welcomed in the United States due to segregation and racism. Racism did not stop Baker from being a part of the Harlem Renaissance.
...rk's Carnegie Hall again. Due to previous experience, she was nervous about how the audience and critics would perceive her. Josephine received a standing ovation before the concert began. The happy welcome was so heartfelt that she cried onstage. On April 8, 1975 Josephine preformed at the Bobino Theater in Paris. Different celebrities came to see 68-year-old Josephine perform a mixture of routines from her 50 year career. The reviews were outstanding. However, days later, Josephine slipped into a coma. She died from a cerebral hemorrhage at 5 a.m. on April 12.
...ng to this day, she is one of few who could compete with the men of hip-hop, but she never pretended to be anything but a woman. She not only sang about female empowerment, but she wrote about being a woman from the insecurities that we as women sometimes feel to the nirvana of being in love. Sensuality and femininity were always as important to her which was her strength, and message to get out to women especially those of color.
Though she received treatment and blood transfusions, she died of uremic poisoning on October 4, 1951, at age 31.
25, 1931 in Chicago, Illinois. She was an African American woman, who from a young age had
At the age of nineteen she met and married Louis Jones. Together they had two children Gail and Teddy (who later died in 1970 from kidney failure). While trying to get used to raising a family and having a career, she received a call from an agent, who had seen her at the Cotton Club, about a part in a movie. Her controlling husband allowed her to be in “The Duke is Tops” and also the musical revue “Blackbirds of 1939."
Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday were both prominent jazz singer-songwriters during the same time and masters in their own right, but their worlds could not have been further apart. In 1939, while they were both in the midst of experiencing mainstream success, Ella was touring with Ella and her Famous Orchestra and showcasing her perfect pitch and tone to the world while singing songs that would soon become standards to fellow singers and musicians. Billie was singing solo, comfortable with her limited range, and gaining the adoration of audiences nationwide who loved her soulful voice. Both of these historic singers made contributions to the art of jazz, with vocalists and instrumentalists still using elements of their style today. Ella
The movie Lady Day: The Many Faces Of Billie Holiday paints an interesting, and thought provoking portrait of one of jazz and blues most charismatic, and influential artists. The incomparable talent of Billie Holiday, both truth and legend are immortalized in this one-hour documentary film. The film follows Holiday, also referred to as “Lady Day” or “Lady”, through the many triumphs and trials of her career, and does it’s very best to separate the facts from fiction. Her autobiography Lady Sings The Blues is used as a rough guide of how she desired her life story to be viewed by her public. Those who knew her, worked with her, and loved her paint a different picture than this popular, and mostly fictional autobiography.
Bessie was born April 15, 1894 in Chattanooga, Tennessee to a part time Baptist preacher, William Smith, and his wife Laura. The family was large and poor. Soon after she was born her father died. Laura lived until Bessie was only nine years old. The remaining children had to learn to take care of themselves. Her sister Viola then raised her. But it was her oldest brother, Clarence, who had the most impact on her. Clarence always encouraged Bessie to learn to sing and dance. After Clarence had joined the Moses Stokes Minstrel Show, Bessie got auditions. Bessie's career began when she was 'discovered' by none other than Ma Rainey when Ma's revue, the Rabbit Foot Minstrels, was passing through Chattanooga around 1912 and she had the occasion to hear young Bessie sing. Ma took Bessie on the road with the show and communicated, consciously or not, the subtleties and intricacies of an ancient and still emerging art form. (Snow).
Annie Oakley was born on August 13, 1860 in Darke County, Ohio. Her original name was Phoebe Ann Moses, but her family called her Annie. Annie Oakley was short in stature, coming in at around five feet tall. She had wavy brown hair that fell past her shoulders and she wore costumes that she sewed herself. To maintain her ladylike attitude, Annie always wore a skirt and never wore pants.
Bessie Smith impacted Billie Holiday because Holiday learned a lot through Smith’s records by thinking that Smith was kind of a teacher. Even though Billie Holiday did not have a voice as powerful as Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday’s musical interpretations and phrasing were similar to Bessie Smith. Frank Sinatra was impacted by Bessie Smith because he believed that she was an early blues genius. Sinatra’s voice was more polished than Smith’s voice, but he did find inspiration in the emotions she sang with in the records. Bessie Smith was a highly influential artist that had the power to help people with their music even after her death proving that she truly is “The Empress of Blues” ("Bessie Smith"
She died of a suicide and she that because at a certain point in her life she had enough of suffering.