Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday was one of the best jazz singers of her time. She was born in 1915 to Sadie Fagan and Clarence Holiday. Billie Holiday performed on many stages. Being born in Baltimore to teenage parents, left much time to be on the streets as she grew up and hear all kinds of music. Jazz and Blues became her favorites. However, Billie loved jazz the most. She loved jazz more than any other thing.

Billie Holiday had a rough life. She had to live with her mother and other relatives after her father left to play the banjo. Eventually, Billie's mother moved to New York in search of work. This is what ultimately led Billie to fend for herself on the street of Baltimore. At the age of eleven she was raped. Finally, Billie was sent to reform school.

Billie Holiday found out early how much she loved singing. She realized that it was just about the only thing that she had. She got her singing career started in Harlem, New York in the early 1930's. She began by singing blues for tips in night clubs. Her first recording debut came in 1933. Billie Holiday was only eighteen years old.

Following the start of her career at such a young age, Billie had many relationships. Her first husband was a man named Jimmy Monroe. Billie said that he was an abusive man. While married to Jimmy Monroe, she began dating Joe Guy. Ultimately, she divorced Monroe and split with Joe Guy in 1947. That same year Billie Holiday was jailed on the charge of doing drugs. She married her next husband in 1952; a man named Louis McKay.

Billie Holiday had many ups and downs on her way to becoming famous. She worked hard and earned her famous lifestyle. She died on July 17, 1959 at the age of forty-four at the Metropolitan Hospital in New York. Even though she experienced some difficult things during her career, it did not stop her voice. She left behind countless songs and a legacy of being one of the world's greatest jazz singers.