Billie Holiday Impact On Society

Billie Holiday
“If I’m going to sing like someone else, then I don’t need to sing at all.” -Billie Holiday
Born on April 7th, 1915, was a African American girl named Billie Holiday. Little did anyone know she would grown up to be a women with a huge impact in the world of jazz music. Miss Billie Holiday was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She’s the daughter of Sarah Julia, and Clarence Holiday. Her father was a musician, and he left her mother when Billie was born to follow his dreams as a jazz guitarist. Billie Holiday didn’t have the easiest childhood. For the first ten years of her life she really struggled with the fact that her mom often left because of her job, leaving Billie to be raised by her grandmother Martha Miller. Billie

didn’t have the support a mother normally offers as a child is growing up. As Billie’s life grew tougher she began skipping school. It got to the point where she was brought to Juvenile court when she was only nine years old. She was sent to The House of the Good Shepherd, a Catholic reform school. She got out of the reform school that year and got released back to her mother who had opened a restaurant called East Side Grill. Billie and her mother worked long hours there in hopes to keep living a stable life. By age eleven Billie dropped out of school. One day Billie’s mother returned home from work to find Wilbur Rich, their neighbour, attempting to rape Billie but he failed. Billie fought back and Wilbur Rich was arrested shortly after.
As Billie grew older she started singing around various night clubs in Harlem. She decided to team up with one of her neighbours who played a tenor sax player named Kenneth Hollan. From 1929 to 1931 they played around night clubs. Their reputation grew bigger and bigger. She came across many other musicians who to this day recall hearing her sing for the first time, including her father. When Billie was 17 a producer named John Hammond heard her singing at a club. He set up a recording debut for Billie once she turned 18. In November 1933 Billie released two songs, “Your Mother’s Son In Law” and “Riffin’ the Scotch,” which later turned into her first hit “Son-In-Law” and sold 300 copies. “Riffin’ the Scotch” was even more popular, selling 5,000 copies. John Hammond said, “Her singing almost changed my music and my musical life, because she was the first girl singer I’d come across who actually sang like an improvising jazz genius.”
Billie was later signed to Brunswick Records to record pop tunes with Teddy Wilson.

Billie Holiday’s career was sky rocketing. In this time it wasn’t common for women to be successful in this genre of music. It was mainly men who played or sang jazz songs, but Billie Holiday changed this. She had people who supported her and took a stand. She didn’t care who or what she sounded like, she knew it was her voice and she wanted to be a singer. It didn’t matter if she was a girl or boy. Holiday was even hired by Artie Shaw to work with an all white orchestra. She was the first black women to ever do this. This was also the first full time full-time job for a black female singer to tour the Southern US with a white bandleader. She faced a lot of problems being put into these tense racial situations. While touring in the south many members of the audience would give Billie a hard time. In Louisville, Kentucky one man called her a “nigger wench” and demanded she sing another song. Billie lost her temper at this and had to be escorted off the stage. So many odds were fighting against Billie Holiday during the time she was working towards her music career and even before. She was African American and a female in the 1930s. People were not excepting during these times. Its awful to think that people judged and discriminated against others just based off of what they looked like. Billie rarely let this slow her down. She fought against it and gained her reputation in the jazz world. People always overlook the fact that it is not easy to get your name out there. Especially if you’re a black female in the

1930s.
In 1947 Billie Holiday was arrested for possessing narcotics in her apartment located in New York. She was then sent to Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia. Billie was released early in 1948 for good behavior. When she returned home she was asked to sing at Carnegie Hall. At first she wasn’t so sure if she wanted to accept the offer not sure if people would still support her after her arrest, but eventually she gave in. She sold out the show. 2,700 tickets were sold in advance which was a new record at the time. During this show someone sent her a box of gardenias which was her old “trademark”. She said she used to take them out of the box and fasten them to the side of her head. So of course, without thinking twice this is was Billie did. There was a hatpin in them and before she knew it she had blood running down her face. That was the end of this show.
Billie admitted to using drugs in 1940. In 1941 she married a trombonist named Jimmy Monroe, but shortly after the marriage she became involved with another man who was actually her drug dealer. Billie Holiday and Jimmy soon got divorced. Eventually Billie’s career started to deteriorate, as well did she. Her drug abuse, drinking problems, and recurring relationships with abusive men really broke her. She passed away on May 31, 1959. It honestly disappoints me that Billie Holiday got so hooked on drugs and alcohol. She was such an amazing singer and a huge impact on jazz music. She lacked a good musical education but she was amazing at improvisation. She was an idol to many. I wish she could’ve broke through the abuse of drugs and alcohol. Billie Holiday was very successful in the jazz world and I look up to her very much.

Works Cited
http://www.billieholiday.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billie_Holiday
http://www.biography.com/people/billie-holiday-9341902