Billie Holiday was known, as one of America's most memorable and influential all-time great jazz vocalist. The inspiration for many aspiring singers today, Holiday had a singular voice steeped in aching emotion and fueled by an uncanny sense of swing. She not only stamped her distinctive signature on such standards as "Night And Day," but she also contributed remarkable originals to the jazz canon, including "Strange Fruit" and "God Bless The Child." Influenced by Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong, Holiday not only sang with passion and conviction, but she also improvised with a trumpeter's sensibility. Born Eleanore Harris on April 7, 1915. Her father Clarence Holiday and mother Sadie Fagan were teenagers who resized in Baltimore, Maryland at the time. Her father was a professional guitarist and Banjo player whose parents didn't approve of marriage cause of their lifestyle felt it was a scandal. After three years her parents decided to marry. Her father called her Bill, because she was a tomboy. Eleanor hated her name and took right to the name Bill. She liked the actress Billie Dove, so she decided to go from Bill to Billie Holiday. .
Billie lived a very hard life going up. Her childhood was of poverty and unhappiness. By the age 10 she was well developed that the men viewed her different. She was later raped and sent to a Catholic home for girls. Billie left the girls home at the age of 12 with the help of her mother and grandfather. .
Billie loved imitating popular songs by her favorite singer Bessie Smith. By age 14, she began to sing in a nightclub called Pod's and Terry's that paid her $18.00 a week. After years of singed, the club decided to change their name. It had become a hot spot that songwriters, producers, promoters and agents hung out. An agent named Joe Glaser heard Billie sing and signed her on the spot. After a short spur of prostitution, she finally made her professional debut as a singer.
