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Billie Holiday was born on April 7, 1915, and he was an American jazz and swing music singer. She was given the nickname “Lady Day” by Lester Young. She is reported to have an innovative influence on jazz music and pop singing.
Billie Holiday started singing in nightclubs in Harlem and through that she got the attention of producer John Hammond. It must be noted that Billie Holiday had a recording contract with Brunswick which was signed in 1935.
She collaborated with Teddy Wilson and produced the hit song “What a Little Moonlight Can Do.”What a Little Moonlight Can Do became a standard for jazz. Billie Holiday had a successful career while with Columbia Records and Decca in the 1930s through to the 1940s.
In the late 1940s. she started having some legal issues and issues with drug abuse. She was briefly sentenced to prison but had a successful at Carnegie Hall after her release. Lady in Satin was her final album and was released in 1958.
Billie Holiday was able to win four Grammy Awards after her death. She was also inducted Grammy Hall of Fame and the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame. Billie Holiday was also inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as an early influence in 2000 and she was named one of the 50 Great Voices by NPR. She was also ranked fourth on the Rolling Stone list of “200 Greatest Singers of All Time” (2023).
Billie Holiday Cause of Death
Billie Holiday was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver by early 1959. She was asked to stop drinking by her doctor.
By May 1959, she had lost as much as 9.1kg in weight but declined to visit the hospital even though the likes of manager, Joe Glaser, jazz critic Leonard Feather, photojournalist Allan Morrison, and her own friends convinced her to do so.
Subsequently, she was finally taken to Metropolitan Hospital in New York for treatment of both liver and heart disease on May 31, 1959. Billie Holiday ied on July 17, 1959, at 3:10 am. She was 44 years old at the time of her death and she died of pulmonary edema and heart failure caused by cirrhosis of the liver.
Works
Some of her Studio LPs include Billie Holiday Sings (1952), An Evening with Billie Holiday (1953), Billie Holiday (1954), Music for Torching (1955), Velvet Mood (1956), Lady Sings the Blues (1956) and Body and Soul (1957).
Others are Songs for Distingué Lovers (1957), Stay with Me (1958), All or Nothing at All (1958), Lady in Satin (1958) and Last Recording (1959). Her theatrical films include 1933: The Emperor Jones, appeared as an extra, 1935: Symphony in Black, short (with Duke Ellington), 1947: New Orleans and 1950: ‘Sugar Chile’ Robinson, Billie Holiday, Count Basie and His Sextet
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