Sensational Lady – Billie Holiday

Billy Holiday did not live a long life, but she did live a life full of adventure. She lived her life the way she wanted to live it. She made a lot of money and didn’t take any nonsense from anyone. She loved fearlessly – both men and women. She loved to party and had a huge appetite for sensations.

Billy Holiday was born Eleanora Fagan on April 7, 1915 in Philadelphia to parents Sadie —an 18 year old cleaner at the time — and her father Clarence, a 16 year old guitarist. Her parents were unwed and didn’t even live together. Eleanora grew up on the streets of Baltimore, where she learned to fend for herself, and later moved to Harlem with her mother in 1928.

She did not have an easy life in Harlem. Only 13 at the time, Billie and her mother resorted to prostitution to help pay the rent, and later they were both arrested and sent to Welfare Island where she spent 100 days working off her sentence.

She decided she needed a change in her life after that and began singing in nightclubs around Harlem. She met John Hammond at the young age of 18 and was signed to Brunswick Records, and later cut her first record. She went on to work with Count Basie and Artie Shaw, and to this day, her voice remains a staple of classic jazz music. Songs like, “What a Little Moonlight Can Do” and “Summertime” became jazz standards, and are still heard in jazz clubs around the globe.

Billie Holiday was bisexual. She married men she loved, but still loved being with women as well. She dated Louise Crane, a prominent American philanthropist, and  American actress Tallulah Bankhead. The legacy Billie Holiday left behind was enormous, and her distinctive voice left an indelible impression on the world of music.