Billie Holiday (1915 - 1959)

• Eleanora Fagan Gough :-

• born in Baltimore in 1915
• her parents were in their early teens
• she was sometimes beaten by an unloving cousin, Ida
• she suffered an attempted rape (by a 40 year old man) at the age of ten
• her father (Clarence Holiday) left when she was a baby
• her mother (Sadie Fagan) left the child with relatives
• Eleanora ran errands for a brothel in Baltimore and in 1927 moved to New York , where, after not making it as a maid, she spent part of the next 3 years earning a living as a prostitute
• She didn't stay a prostitute for the entire three years, however. She was arrested at the age of 13 and sentenced to four months at an adult correctional institution on Welfare Island. Her mother had convinced the judge that she was actually 18. After her release she went back to prostitution but, shortly after that she moved back in with her mother on 139th street in Harlem. The year was 1929...she was fourteen years old.

  Her Career:-

• she began her career in speakeasy dancing the only step she knew for 15 choruses...they asked her if she could sing
• encouraged by the pianist she sang "Trav'lin All Alone"...
• inspired by her love of singing, she talked the manager of a club into letting her sing a few tunes with the house band - she made $57.00 in tips.
• she used the name "Billie Holiday" because of her admiration for film star Billie Dove.
• she got the name "Lady" working at Pod and Jerry's speakeasy by refusing to pick up tips the way the other girls did, by clamping their thighs around the bills...she found this practice degrading and only accepted tips that were handed to her..."Look at her, she thinks she's a lady," the other girls taunted.
• she was discovered by John Hammond
• In 1933 Hammond organized her first recording session with Benny Goodman
• many of her early bands were organized by pianist Teddy Wilson
• at one time her sidemen included: Benny Goodman Roy Eldridge

  with Count Basie:

• joined the Count Basie band in 1937
• she established a lifelong relationship with Lester Young (Prez)
• she is said to have nicknamed Lester Young...the PREZ! She said..."this country already has a Duke and a Count, in this country the top man is the President...Lester's the top man, he's the Prez! (sic)
• Basie let her go for being too independent and temperamental
• in 1939 she introduced "Strange Fruit" & "God Bless the Child"

  Personal Life:

• portrayed in the movie "Lady Sings The Blues"
• married Johnnie Monroe in 1941 and became an opium user
• married trumpeter Joe Guy and during this marriage became a heroin addict despite her addictions, she sang well and earned as much as$1000/week
• in 1946 she gave a triumphant concert at Town Hall and appeared in the film "New Orleans"
• in 1947 she was arrested on a drug charge and served 8 months in prison, after her release she gave a sellout concert at New York's Carnegie Hall.
• at age 36 she married a third time - Louis McKay, also abusive
• toured Europe successfully in 1954 and was reunited with Lester Young at Newport but was arrested again in 1956 and entered a clinic
• her recovery was temporary - her lifestyle claimed her life on July 17, 1959

Billie Holiday's "These Foolish Things"

If you have any comments or information to add, E-mail Mike Day at

daym@ncat.edu

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