Billie Holiday

Life wouldn't be life without music today. If we didn't have music the world wouldn't go round and round like it does. Music is our way to escape life and be free from all our problems bills, family and relationships. There are many different type of music but right now I’m going to talk about R&B and jazz. Woman and men could sing jazz or R&B. with the top records at the top of the charts these singers were unbelievable. Billie Holiday and Kelly Rowland are very amazing singers and they manage to succeed through their life even with all the problems they had. Billie Holiday was born on April 15th 1959. Billie’s real name is Eleanora Fagan she changed it because of her idol of Billie Dove. (Biography.com/editors). Billie Holiday’s mother…

Billie Holiday, occasionally known as Lady Day, was a well known harlem renaissance singer. Billie Holiday's life was an intriguing yet very misfortunate story. Billie Holiday had gone through many obstacles in her lifetime. Even as she rose to fame, problems in her short life never seem to go away. Billie Holiday had to overcome through problems like addiction, prostitution, rape, etc... Throughout her entire life, from her early life to death Billie Holiday had to face and many struggles and…

Strange Fruit In the mid 1930’s, a New York teacher by the name Abel Meeropol was stunned by an eerie photograph taken at a lynching on August 7, 1930. The revolting glimpse of the lifeless bodies hanging helplessly on a maple tree was said to “haunt” Meeropol “for days.” The sight disturbed him so much, it led him to write a poem titled, “Strange Fruit” in 1937, which was published and later converted into a song reperformed by Billie Holiday in 1939. “Strange Fruit” was significant to the…

though widely and incorrectly believed to have been published in the Marxist publication The New Masses" (Heft 5). Meeropol had graduated from Dewitt Clinton in 1921; he later went on to teach English there for 17 years. He was also a poet and a social activist, Meeropol was disturbed and upset about the continuation of racism in America, and seeing a picture of a lynching put him over the edge. A man named Pelison Who wrote about Meeropol writes "Meeropol once said the photograph "haunted" him…

Eleanora Fagan also known as Billie Holiday was born on April 7, 1915 and died on July 17, 1959. She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She had a nickname of “Lady Holiday” which was given to her music partner Lester Young. She was considered one of the best jazz vocalists of all time. Holiday had a thriving career as a jazz singer for many years before she lost her battle with substance abuse. In 2000, Billie was put into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Billie Holiday was important to the…

Billie Holiday Also known as “Lady Day” and born Eleanora Fagan, Billie Holiday was one of the most prolific jazz singers of her time and also made a significant contribution to the civil rights movement occurring during her life. She is widely regarded as a unique and important figure in the in the jazz community and has relevance even 50 years after her death. GROWING UP: Billie Holiday was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1915 to Sarah Fagan and Clarence Holiday. She had a very tough…

Who truly is the best American? It’s surely a tough question to answer, considering there’s so much debate about the topic, but I feel compelled to say Billie Holiday. First of all, Holiday made a plethora of contributions to society and the way we look at each other. She was a fascinating black role model despite her flaws and an abundance of vices. Her stance on prohibition also aided in it being repealed. She expressed her disdain for racism boldly with her music. In addition to these…

When I first heard Billie Holiday sing Strange Fruit, I was immediately saddened by her tone. It instantly gripped my attention because she started the song off referring to a “strange fruit.” This reference automatically made me listen closely to see what “fruit” she was speaking of. The next line talked about blood on the trees’ leaves and roots which instantly stirred up feeling of sadness. This song describes the lynching of African Americans in the South. I asked myself, what could a man…

The Strangest Fruit “Strange fruit hangin’ from the poplar trees… The bulgin’ eyes and the twisted mouth… the sudden smell of burnin’ flesh” (Meeropol). The poem “Strange Fruit” was written by Abel Meeropol and published in 1937 was a poem that not only disturbed many, but made them realize the appalling actions of the whites encouraging to lynch many blacks on August 7, 1930. After the poem was published on April 20,1930, it was soon sung by famous singer Billie Holiday who originally…

In the middle of a town, There’s is a tree splattered red and from a rope attached to a branch hangs a rotting corpse covered in grime and gore. This is the image Billie Holiday puts into the mind of the listener during her song Strange Fruit. Strange fruit was written as a poem by a school teacher, Abel Meeropol, and was recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939. During the song strong imagery effectively appealing to the listener’s emotions and their ethics as a person. Billie Holiday effectively…