She was born Eleanora Fagan in Philadelphia; raised in Baltimore, she may have been raped as a child, spent time in a reform school, worked with her mom in a brothel, and began singing in Harlem while still a teenager. Famed record producer John Hammond, who would later help sign Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen, heard her in 1933 and helped her cut her first record with the young Benny Goodman. Inspired by Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith, and working with such artists as pianist Teddy Wilson, saxophonist Lester Young, and big band leaders Count Basie and Artie Shaw, Billie refined her distinctive vocal style, often singing offbeat with a bluesy, emotive, usually sad feel.

         1939’s “Strange Fruit”, the anti-lynching heartbreaking protest that she made all her own, and 1942’s “God Bless the Child”, aimed squarely at her mother who took Billie’s money without giving back (as Billie told it), are her best known tracks. As a singer she’s been extolled by the likes of Hammond who said she was “the first girl singer…who actually sang like an improvising genius,” and Frank Sinatra who said she was “the greatest single musical influence on me.”

         Billie was gone by the age of 44, alcohol, hard drugs, a series of abusive relationships, and constant government harassment having taken their toll. “Lady Day”, as best friend Lester Young called her, has been honored by at least four halls of fame – the Jazz, Rock, R&B, and Women’s institutions.

         -Steve Williams  (5/25/23) – Greatest Recording Artists Blog Post #13