Billie Holiday siblings: Meet Eva Miller

Publish date: 2024-05-19

Billie Holiday (April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was a jazz and swing singer from the United States. Lester Young, her friend and music partner, dubbed her “Lady Day,” and she had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop singing. Her vocal style, which was heavily influenced by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new approach to phrasing and tempo manipulation. Her vocal delivery and improvisational abilities were well-known.

After a difficult childhood, Holiday began singing in Harlem nightclubs, where she was discovered by producer John Hammond, who liked her voice. In 1935, she signed a recording contract with Brunswick. Collaborations with Teddy Wilson resulted in the chart-topping single “What a Little Moonlight Can Do,” which became a jazz standard. Holiday had mainstream success on labels such as Columbia and Decca throughout the 1930s and 1940s. However, by the late 1940s, she was embroiled in legal issues and drug abuse. She returned to Carnegie Hall for a sold-out performance after serving a short prison sentence.

Throughout the 1950s, she was a popular concert performer, with two more sold-out shows at Carnegie Hall. Her final recordings were met with mixed reactions due to personal struggles and an altered voice but were mild commercial successes. Lady in Satin, her final album, was released in 1958. On July 17, 1959, Holiday died of cirrhosis at the age of 44.