Personally one of my favorite artists of all time, Billie Holiday, is known to be a true artist known in American pop and jazz history. She lived an emotional and challenging life, with plenty of stories to tell and enough sorrow to fill a songbook. Holiday sang with incredible profundity, sophistication, and her unique vocals is still considered to be one of the greatest jazz voices of all time.
Billie Holiday, born Eleanora Fagan Gough on April 7th, 1915 was born in Baltimore, Maryland. She was raised primarily by her mother Sadie Fagan, Holiday’s father, Clarence Holiday was teenage jazz guitarist in Fletcher Henderson’s band, and he never married her mother and left while his daughter was still a baby. Her mother was also a young teenager at the time, and in 1927 Holiday dropped out of the fifth grade and moved to Harlem with her mother. She helped her mother with domestic work as a cleaner at a bordello, which led to her discovery of jazz, in particular Bessie Smith and Louie Armstrong. Soon she began prostitution with her mother for additional income, and at the age of fourteen, she was arrested along with her mother for prostitution.
In the early 1930’s, Holiday sang for tips in clubs in New York and it was around that time she took on her stage name. “Billie” was inspired by the actress Billie Dove, and Holiday from her father. In the autobiographical book “Lady Sings the Blues”, Holiday claims her big singing break came in 1933, when she looked for work as a dancer at a Harlem speakeasy. When there wasn’t an opening for a dancer, she auditioned as a singer. (Holiday, Lady Sings the Blues) Holiday wowed the owner and began singing in Harlem jazz clubs and impressed jazz writer and producer John Hammond. He heard her fil...
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...’s rhythm and phrasing, which she incorporated in her own vocal melodies. Holiday wrote in her autobiography “Lady Sings the Blues”, “I spent many a wonderful hours there listening to Pops and Bessie. I remember Pops’ recording of “West End Blues” and how it used to gas me. It was the first time I ever heard anybody sin without using any words”. (Holiday, Lady Sings the Blues) If you listen closely to her songs and Armstrong’s songs, you recognize how Holiday learned how to sing and swing at the same time, similar to Armstrong’s technique. In 1958, a year before she died, Frank Sinatra said that Holiday was “Unquestionably the most important influence on American popular singing in the last 20 years.” Not only did she develop a memorable and unique style of jazz singing but the way she approached her material left its mark on many of her peers, both in jazz and out.
This led to an engagement with Chick Webb's band, and she soon became a celebrity of the swing era with performances such as A-tisket, A-tasket (1938) and Undecided (1939). She also sang in a jazz group led by her husband, Ray Brown (1948-52). She played with the philharmonic. She first performed scat when In her recording of ‘Mac the Knife’ on the album ‘Ella in Berlin’ she started scat singing because she had forgotten the words! This turned out to be one of her great recordings!! She sang “cry me a river”, “blue skies”. She then embarked on a solo career, issuing commercial and jazz recordings, and in 1946 began an association with Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic, which eventually brought her a large international
You can see her influence in most of today’s art. I grew up on Janet’s music and I simply love each era of her work. To me, Janet is more than a singer, she is a true artist.
Josephine Baker was an exceptional woman who never depended on a man. She never hesitated to leave a man when she felt good and ready. In her lifetime she accomplished many great things. She adopted 12 children, served France during World War II, and was an honorable correspondent for the French Resistance.
The music industry during the 1940s was filled with many talented artists who impacted the music industry and the history of rock n’ roll forever. But one of the very well known and talented artists was Buddy Holly. Buddy Holly was the first to pioneer new music genres and progressive music. Charles Hardin Holley (1936-1959) was an American musician and artist whose creative career began in 1956. The family name is correctly spelled “Holley” but his first recording contract from Decca Records in 1956 spelled his last name “Holly” and he kept it that way for the rest of his career (Griggs 1). Holly took a very influential position in the music industry and built an audience for his Rock and Roll music very quickly due to his unique voice and advanced knowledge of music. Buddy Holly is a prime example of a musical pioneer who blended resources from various music genres including a variety of popular genres such as rhythm and blues (RNB), oriental, and African (Schinder and Schwartz 85).
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
Billie Holiday was an African-American jazz singer and songwriter.Billie Holiday was the biological child of Sadie Fagan and Clarence Holiday. Sadie was thirteen when she had Billie. At the same time, Clarence was an irresponsible father who did not care about his daughter's Billie. From Billie's early life, she grew up in a broken family. In other word, she had no father to support throughout her childhood and her mother who was struggling financially as a teen mom that often neglect the time to take care of Billie. Therefore, Billie's childhood was missing love from both parents. Aside from that, Billie traveled from place to place along with her mother in order to survive. For example, Billie's mother worked as a server on the passenger railroad. Holiday was take care by her half-sister aunt named Martha Miller. Holiday was frequently running away from school. As a result of that, she was sent to the House of the Good Shepherd for nine months starting from March 19, 1925.Later on, she was released on October 3, 1925 to her mother who had opened a restaurant called East Side Grill. As a young girl, she did not receive much of formal school and Holiday was forced to drop out of school at the age of eleventh. Holiday's mom discovered that her neighbor named Wilbur Rich was raping her daughter's Billie. Once again, Billie was placed to the House of the Good Shepeard in protective custody as a state witness in the rape case. She was then released in 1927 and worked as an errand in a brothel. One year later, Billie's mother moved on New York City to find a better job as a prostitute in Harlem. On 1929, Billie also moved to Harlem to become a prostitute. Billie was fourteen when she was prostitute for $5 per client. Unfortunately, the...
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 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"
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
Known as the “Empress Of Blues”, Bessie Smith was said to have revolutionized the vocal end of Blues Music. She showed a lot of pride as an independent African-American woman. Her style in performance and lyrics often reflected her lifestyle. Bessie Smith was one of the first female jazz artists, and she paved the way for many musicians who followed.
Waters' success was related to her style of singing. She could sing like other classic blues singers with plenty of passion and fire, but she had a unique approach. She was not a shouter but was able to hold the attention of the audience with her low and sweet voice. According to Jimmy McPartland, who saw her in the 1927 show Miss Calico, "We were enthralled with her. We liked Bessie Smith very much, too, but Waters had more polish, I guess you'd say. She phrased so wonderfully, the natural quality of her voice was so fine . . ." Waters introduced a new style of the blues, one that was influenced by her grandmother who always told her "You don't have to holler so.
Without a doubt there is one major performer that certainly stands out within our pop culture world. The name of this very famous American icon is, Dolly Parton. Dolly has surpassed any rags to riches story that ever lived. She has touched the lives of so many individuals over many decades through her many talents. Dolly started her career at a very young age and continued fulfilling her life endeavors through country music, pop music, and even acting. This American icon didn’t stop with just her talents, she also gave back to our society through charity, fundraising, and establishing her own theme park. Dolly Parton was brought up in a very poor family, however through much dedication she became the famous icon everyone idolized today.
Billie Holliday was one of the most influential Jazz singers of all time. She had a thriving career for many years before she lost her battle with addition. Jazz Vocalist Billie Holiday was born on April 7, 1915 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Billie had only one
Whitney Houston is considered one of the greatest singers of our generation. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, she holds the record of being the most rewarded female artist of all time. I chose her as my topic, because she represents resiliency and tenacity, despite her troubled experiences with drugs and her personal life. Whitney Houston comes from a family with an amazing, musical pedigree; her mother, Cissy Houston, was a successful back-up singer for Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley. Dionne Warwick is her first cousin, and Aretha Franklin is her godmother.
In the piece “St. Louis Blues,” sung by Bessie Smith with Louis Armstrong on the cornet, there is a notable distinction in the relationship that these two artists are displaying throughout the song. This piece, performed in 1925, incorporates a AABA chorus expressed through a very slow tempo. In the first 12-bars, Bessie conveys a melancholic, somber tone made to invoke memories of the past (“I hate to see the evening sun go down”) followed by Armstrong’s cornet response matching her tone. From the first chorus of the piece, there is a distinguished call-and-response succession heard between the two. His response to Bessie’s vocals can otherwise paint this picture showing off how much mournful and sadder Armstrong is than her.