Billie Holiday Biography

In 1928, Holiday took a job as a singer at Jerry Preston’s Log Cabin in New York City. She found she had a powerful voice, full of expression, but she was unable to settle to a job and moved from nightclub to nightclub.

In 1932, Holiday was heard by a jazz producer, John Hammond. Holiday started recording for Columbia and, by 1937, she was producing some of the greatest recordings of her career, with Buck Clayton and Lester Young who nicknamed her ‘Lady Day’.

Holiday went on a brief tour with Artie Shaw’s Orchestra, but had to deal with so much racism that she gave up and went back to New York. She then recorded ‘Strange Fruit’, an anti-racist song which made an incredible impact whenever she sung it.

As Holiday’s career reached new heights, she became more depressed. In 1942, she married James Monroe, but their marriage was violent and abusive. Holiday became addicted to heroin and opium, and her lifestyle affected her music.

From 1944, Holiday recorded with Decca, and made some of her most famous tracks, such as ‘God Bless The Child’, ‘Don’t Explain’ and ‘Lover Man’. She spent most of 1947 in prison for heroin possession and, as a result, lost her cabaret licence.

While her exposure was limited, her seemingly glamorous lifestyle and reputation helped her popularity grow.

However, her lifestyle had a more devastating effect on her voice and, by the 1950s, her voice sounded broken and tired. However, Holiday continued to record and, in 1958, released the album ‘Lady in Satin’.

In 1959, Holiday was hospitalised and, on 17 July 1959, she died of cirrhosis of the liver, aged just 44.