Featured In
ALBUMMisty & BlueBillie Holiday & The Bobby Freedman Group
Albums by Billie Holiday
ALBUMMisty & BlueBillie Holiday & The Bobby Freedman Group
ALBUMBillie Holiday for Lovers (Deluxe Edition)Billie Holiday
ALBUMDon't ExplainBillie Holiday
ALBUMAn Evening with Lady DayBillie Holiday
ALBUMEasy to RememberBillie Holiday
ALBUMLady Love (Billie's Blues)Billie Holiday
ALBUMBillie Holiday (with Ray Ellis and His Orchestra)Billie Holiday
ALBUMLady In SatinBillie Holiday
ALBUMAll or Nothing At AllBillie Holiday
ALBUMStay With MeBillie Holiday
Billie Holiday's Popular Music Videos
Strange Fruit (The Speek)
Billie Holiday
God Bless The Child (Official Video)
Tony Bennett & Billie Holiday
I'm a Fool to Want You
Billie Holiday
Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone (The Speek)
Billie Holiday
My Man (Toro Y Moi Remix)
Billie Holiday
Artist Playlists
Billie Holiday Essentials
Swinging wit and bluesy sensuality from a pioneer of jazz vocals.
Inspired by Billie Holiday
Tender tributes to one of jazz's most influential singers.
Billie Holiday: Deep Cuts
The queen of slow-burn jazz singing stretches and impresses.
Billie Holiday: Chill
Lean back and relax with some of their mellowest cuts.
Artist Biography
Born Eleanora Fagan, Billie Holiday took her stage name from actress Billie Dove and her father, musician Clarence Holiday.
∙ As a teenager in the early ’30s, Holiday honed her singing talents in Harlem nightclubs.
∙ Her recorded singing debut came on two songs released by Benny Goodman and His Orchestra, one of which, “Riffin’ the Scotch,” became a 1934 hit.
∙ In the late ’30s, she sang for big bands led by Count Basie and Artie Shaw.
∙ Released in 1939, her iconic protest song “Strange Fruit” sold more than 1 million copies and became Holiday’s best-known work.
∙ On Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra’s chart-topping 1942 R&B hit “Trav’lin’ Light,” Holiday is credited as Lady Day because she was then under contract at another label.
∙ She had major pop crossover success after signing to Decca Records and releasing the 1945 hit “Lover Man.”
∙ In 2000, she was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Hometown
Philadelphia, PA, United States
Genre
Jazz