“A kiss that is never tasted is forever and ever wasted.”
Billie Holiday
Introduction
I love writing about inspirational women. Women who fought nail and tooth for a better life despite the many barriers they faced in life. One life story that brings a lump to my throat and a tear to my eye is Billie Holiday’s meteoric yet tragic story—a woman at the heart of black music. He is considered one of the best jazz vocalists of all time. Someone who poured her emotions into her lyrical voice and epitomised the tsunami of abuse and racism that black people have suffered over generations. A singing sensation manipulated by the music industry of the time and shortchanged for her work. She was denied a club card to perform because of her substance abuse, but mainly due to the colour of her skin.
Voice of an Angel
I can’t begin to state Billie Holiday’s influence in shaping the music industry’s future direction. A black female who grew up in a white elitist America. A country where black people were segregated on buses and in hotels, persecuted, maimed, bombed and hung for just being black. It is the most despicable act that should never be forgotten and a stain on society. Holiday was born Elenora Fagan in 1915 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, although some say it was Baltimore, Maryland, and her birth certificate reportedly reads “Elinore Harris. Coming from a teenage mother, Sadie. Her father was thought to be Clarence Holiday, a successful jazz musician. Her father was a stranger to the family home growing up, and despite Bille marrying Philip Gough in 1920 and having a few years of stability, the marriage ended in heartbreak. Holiday and her mother spent years struggling to make ends meet, and Billie was often left in the care of other people. She skipped school, and her mother was in court due to her daughter’s constant truancy. She was then sent to the House of Good Shepherd, a facility for troubled African American girls, in January 1925.
Billie was only nine at the time and spent several months there before being returned to her mother’s arms. A return in 1926 was caused by Holiday being sexually abused during her stay. Broken and distraught, Billie followed her mother to New York and ended up as a prostitute in a brothel in Harlem for some time. Influenced by the music of Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong, Holiday gave up her life of vice and started singing in clubs, changing her name to Billie after the film star Billie Dove.
At 18, she was discovered by producer John Hammond while performing in a Harlem jazz club, and Hammond set her up with an up-and-coming clarinettist and bandleader, Benny Goodman. With Goodman, she sang vocals for several tracks, including her first commercial release, “Your Mother’s Son-In-Law”, and the 1934 top 10 hit “Riffin’ the Scotch.” Billie became known for her distinctive phrasing and expressive, sometimes melancholy voice. She worked with jazz pianist Teddy Wilson and others, and in the same year, 1935, she appeared in the film Symphony in Black with Duke Ellington. She also recorded several singles, including What a Little Moonlight Can Do” and “Miss Brown to You.”
The Big Time
Around this time, Billie befriended the saxophonist Lester Young. A musician who was part of Count Basie’s orchestra and who Holiday worked with once and off for years. He even lived with Billie and Sadie for a little while. Young gave Billie the nickname “Lady Day”, and she named him “Prez”. A nickname that was given because she thought he was the greatest. Holiday toured with the Count Basie Orchestra in 1937. She went to work with Artie Shaw and his orchestra, becoming one of the first female African American vocalists to work with a white orchestra. However, Holiday left the orchestra in frustration due to the promoters objecting to her race and her unique vocal style.
The Club Vibe
Billie decided to go it alone and started performing at New York’s Café Society. She created a trademark act of wearing gardenias in her hair and singing with her head tilted back. Signed up to Columbia Records, Holiday released two of her most iconic songs, “God Bless the Child” and “Strange Fruit.” However, Columbia was not interested in Strange Fruit because it was a story about the lynching of African Americans in the South. Ultimately, she had to record the song with record rival Commodore, and it would become one of her signature ballads with some radio stations banning it, only for it to become a hit.
Life Experiences
Billie often sang about her unhappy relationships. Ones that were emotional and destructive. Songs like “T’ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do” and “My Man. Lyrics filled with sadness and pain are spoken through her unique voice. These came from her marriage to James Monroe in 1942. An alcoholic and someone who was addicted to opium. A habit that Holiday adopted as a result. The marriage was short-lived, but the emotional scars were there throughout her short life. As a result of her drug habit, Billie was persecuted by the racist FBI commissioner Harry Anslinger. He stopped her from getting a card to work at clubs. Although the real reason Billie turned to heroin was to block out her childhood abuse. Yet she was resolute and determined to carry on singing Strange Fruit. Anslinger despised this decision and decided to try to destroy her. A mission that he pursued until she died in 1959.
More hits would follow, such as “God Bless the Child” and “Lover Man,” and she signed a deal with Columbia Records in 1944. She started going out with the trumpeter Joe Guy and, as a result, turned to heroin and heavy drinking. The drinking would escalate after the death of her mother in October 1945. She was using the narcotic to ease her grief. Yet, on stage, Holiday remained a powerful force. She appeared with Louis Armstrong in the 1947 film New Orleans, playing the part of a maid.
Arrest
In 1947, Holiday was dealt a life setback when she was arrested for drug possession. As a result, she was sentenced to a year and a day in jail. She went to a federal rehabilitation facility in Alderson, West Virginia. Released the following year, she could not get the license to play in clubs and lounges. However, she could play in concert halls and had a sell-out concert at Carnegie Hall shortly after her release. With help from John Levy, a man who later became her boyfriend and manager and someone who would take advantage of her, she got to play in New York’s Club Ebony. She was again arrested for narcotics but later acquitted.
Later Years
As the years rolled by, Holiday had problems with her voice due to years of drug and alcohol abuse. She still toured and recorded with Norman Granz and toured Europe. A highly successful tour. Her marriage to Louis McKay in 1957 in Mexico was preceded by the two being arrested for narcotics in 1956. A man who took advantage of her, using her name and money to advance himself. Despite her troubles, Billie still gave several barnstorming performances, such as on the television broadcast The Sound of Jazz with Ben Webster, Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins.
Yet her record sales started to dip because of personal woes and became lacklustre. She recorded Lady in Satin (1958) with the Ray Ellis Orchestra for Columbia. The album’s songs showcased her rougher-sounding voice, which still could convey great emotional intensity. Her last performance was in New York City on May 25, 1959. Afterwards, she was admitted to the hospital with heart and liver problems. She was so addicted to heroin at the time that she was even arrested whilst in hospital for possession. On July 17, 1959, Holiday died from alcohol- and drug-related complications. At her funeral, more than 3,000 people lined the streets to say a final goodbye. A funeral was held in St. Paul the Apostle Roman Catholic Church on July 21, 1959. One that was attended by the likes of Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa, Tony Scott, Buddy Rogers and John Hammond. Her story was later told in the 1972 film Lady Sings the Blues, in which Diana Ross plays Billie. A film that caused a wave of interest in Holiday’s songs.
