Billie Holiday

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Billie Holiday was born on April 15, 1915, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to a troubled family. Her parents were not married, and Billie -named Eleanora Harris at the time- lived with her half-sister's mother-in-law. She moved to live with her mother, who owned a restaurant at the time. Billie's mother made her work long hours, and by the age of eleven, Billie had dropped out of school. In 1926, Billie's mother came home to find a neighbor man raping Billie; the man was arrested and Billie was sent away to be in protective custody during the trial. Her mother eventually moved to New York City, where she began to work as a prostitute. Billie came to live with her mother; before she turned fourteen, she had also become a prostitute. She and her mother were arrested and sent to prison, where Billie stayed for six months. She began to sing in nightclubs, performing in a duo with a tenor saxophone player. She began to sing at all sorts of clubs in Harlem, and grew in popularity. In 1947, Billie was arrested for possessing narcotics, and went to prison for ten months. She had a terrible struggle with drug and alcohol addiction, and was arrested several other times for possessing illegal drugs. Her health deteriorated at a faster rate because of these addictions, and her relationships with rotten, abusive men. In 1959, she was hospitalized because she had cirrhosis of the liver and heart disease. She was arrested on her death bed for drug possession. Police officers guarded her room, and she died on July 17, 1959. She died with a $750 tabloid fee on her person and only $.70 in her bank account. She had a tragic life, filled with poor parenting and deadly addictions. She tried to hide the pain of her past with the consumption of alcohol and drugs, and it affected her health. She had a slow, emotional voice which "brought grown men to tears." As an artist, she was nickname Lady Day. By far her most popular song was Strange Fruit, a song about the racism in the southern United States.
Arias

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