BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
Billie Holiday
Born: April 7, 1915
Died: July 17, 1959
“I can’t stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession, let alone two years or ten years. If you can, then it ain’t music, it’s close-order drill or exercise or yodeling or something, not music.”
Billie Holiday was a jazz singer of the Blues in the 1930s and 1940s. Her childhood was scarred with tragedies that continued to follow her through out her life. Billie was able to turn her personal pain into something special; creating a unique interpretation of blues songs. Her sad, sultry and sexy voice expressed a depth of emotions that can never be duplicated, only felt. Billie Holiday’s unique diction, intense performances and inimitable style have made her a musical legend.
PAN-AFRICAN CONTRIBUTION
Strange Fruit
Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.
“You can be up to your boobies in white satin, with gardenias in your hair and no sugar cane for miles, but you can still be working on a plantation.” Billie Holiday recognized that she was still a slave to the system. Jazz and Blues music explored and expressed the feelings of frustration, poverty, and depression that the African American community was experiencing during the Jim Crow Era. The music began advocating social change. Billie Holiday’s haunting 1939 rendition of Strange Fruit led the way in promoting social activism. This song was adopted as the anthem for the anti-lynching movement. Billie’s voice brought these lyrics to life making it almost impossible to ignore the racist terrorism that confronted the Blackman in the American South.
FURTHER REFERENCES:
Beautiful Ballads & Love Songs CD by Billie Holiday $18.99 (Inside Knowledge Bookstore)
Lady Sings the Blues, Billie Holiday, Penguin
Lady Sings the Blues, motion-picture dramatization of the life of jazz and blues singer Billie Holiday
If You Can’t Be Free, Be a Mystery, Farah J. Griffin, Random House
Billie Holiday: Lady in Satin (Columbia/Legacy)
