8
BILLIE HOLIDAY
One of the most poignant songs Billie Holiday performed and recorded was called Strange Fruit,which
was a song that described racism against African Americans in the southern United States. It is said that
she broke down every time she sang it because it reminded her of her father. In 1939, Columbia Records
refused to record it because they found it too controversial. Commodore Records recorded it, but it
originally was not played on radio stations. The first time she performed it live in a New York Club, the
audience was magnetized to her voice and sat in complete silence. The song became a popular hit and
one of Holiday’s most important works.
Eleanora Fagan was born in Philadelphia in 1915. Her childhood was very unstable. She spent time living with different
relatives, skipped school, and eventually ended up in a home for troubled girls. Young Eleanora took comfort in singing along
with recordings of Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong. This was the only vocal training she had. By the time she was 18,
Eleanora found work singing in some Harlem jazz clubs. Her stage name, Billie Holiday, came from Billie Dove, an actress that
she adored and Holiday, her father’s performing last name.
In 1933, Billie Holiday was discovered by record producer John Hammond. He got her to record several songs with the
_______ ____________ Band including “what a little Moonlight Can Do”and Miss Brown To You”. As these recordings became
more popular, the record company who Billie worked with began recording her as a solo artist and she started singing with
some of the best swing era musicians of the time, including _________ _________ and _________ ________________. By the
end of Billie’s career she had recorded over 40 albums and over 30 of her singles made it to the top 20 pop music charts.
Billie Holiday collaborated often with her closest friend and neighbour Lester Young, a young jazz saxophonist and clarinetist,
who nicknamed her “Lady Day.” She also collaborated and performed, and toured with Louis Armstrong, Count Basie and
Artie Shaw. She was among the first _______ musicians to sing with a _______ orchestra, an arrangement that was not
common at the time.
In spite of the musicians working together on the same stage regardless of color, segregation and racism were still the norm in
the rest of society. For example, Artie and the other band members rode the guest elevator at the venues, while Billie had to
take the freight elevator in the back.
in the late 1930’s, Billie Holiday wrote one of her most famous songs called “God Bless the Child” which came about after
an argument about money with her mother. By the late 1940’s, she appeared in her only major film role. She was not happy
about her role in the film, but she sang the song “Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans” among others, for the
soundtrack.
Billie Holiday had suffered from a serious heroin addiction, alcohol dependency and abusive relationships for most of her
career. by the late 1940, her health was declining and it was becoming obvious on stage. Holiday died at the young age of 44
of liver and heart disease. Today, Billie Holiday is remembered for her emotional style of singing, where she pioneered new
ways to vary musical elements such as phrasing and tempo and who influenced future jazz and pop musicians with her style.
Fast Facts
Birth Name: Eleanora Fagan
Born: April 17, 1915, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Died: July 17, 1959, New York, NY, USA
Style: Jazz, Blues, Swing, Torch Songs
Instruments: Vocals
Important Works
Fun Facts
Once, Billie Holiday was getting ready for a
show and accidentally burnt her hair with
a curling iron. Her friend bought fresh cut
gardenias for Billie to pin in her hair and cover
up the bald spot. Billie ended up loving the
smell and look of the flowers and continued to
wear them in her hair. Gardenias in her hair
ended up being her trademark!
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
Printable Music Lesson Plans - Jazz and Blues - Fact Sheet 8
© 2011 Fun Music Company
Billie Holiday
8
fun sheet
Vocabulary Maze
Navigate your way through the maze by spelling out the words that are the answers to each of the clues.
The answer to the first clue starts with the circled letter “E”. The last answer ends with the circled letter “G”.
Move from letter to letter in each word as you trace a path. A letter may be above, below, to the left, to the
right or diagonal to the previous letter.
TA S O R L N Q J A R B
I
O
I
V
P
E
Z
Z
A
L
O
Q
A N
E
I
M
H
D
T
V
J
N
A
R B
S
T
A
D
C
E
S
R
E
Z
M M
A
I
F
R
L
I
Z
P
L
M
N S
R
N
G
Z
E
M
C
W
T
E
H T
V
X
E
B
N
J
O
H
X
N
R G
F
D
J
H
S
H
B
F
I
A
C O
E
R
A
G
Y
E
L
D
L
C
N U
K
O
L
C
A
D
A
B
K
H
G Z
B
P
Z
N
R
D
Y
G
S
Y
1
Billie Holiday’s birth name (8)
2
Holiday’s main musical genre (4)
3
Borough of New York City, where Holiday began singing in clubs (6)
4
“God Bless the ___” (a song that Billie co-wrote and performed) (5)
5
Billie Holiday’s famous nickname (4,3)
6
Flowers that Holiday wore in her hair (9)
7
Term that means inventing new variations of a song on the spur of the moment (with no preparation) (13)
8
The last name of the famous trumpeter that Holiday collaborated with (9)
Letter Cross-out
Cross-out all of the extra letters to reveal the answer to each clue.
For example, if the clue is Billie Holiday’s nickname and you are given XRLSAUGDYGFDIOAREY, cross
out all of the extra letters to get Lady Day: XRLSAUGDYGFDIOAREY = LADY DAY
1 An emotional song that describes a broken heart or a lost love.
R W T Y E O R D S C U H Q A S I O H N X G = ______________
______________
2 A controversial song Billie Holiday sang that dealt with racism.
S E R T Y W N R A N C K G T R E U F J R I I U O P I T = ______________
______________
3 Billie Holiday made her first recording with his band.
N W B R T E I N N O Y U P G N X O A S O D I M Z A L N = ______________
______________
4 Rather than being musically trained, Billie Holiday had a ____ ____ for music.
N H D A I E T L C U R P S A C V L K D E I G A R = ______________
______________
5 She was a famous jazz singer born in 1917 who collaborated with Billie Holiday.
J F E O P L A Z L AV B F O W I T Z V G L E D O R Z AV L X D = ______________
______________
6 A form of jazz that Billie Holiday sung when she performed with big bands such as Benny Goodman’s and Count Basie’s bands; it is characterized by fast tempos, a strong rhythm and accompanied by percussion, woodwind and brass instruments.
D F H S I U W K C I P B N L G = ______________
Printable Music Lesson Plans - Jazz and Blues - Fun Sheet 8
© 2010 Fun Music Company