Billie Holiday Research Paper

1613 Words7 Pages
Evolution of Music: The Influence on Cultural Events Music is a form of expression that the use of words alone can never achieve. Music is a narrator of the experiences humans have gone through; every era is accompanied by its own music that reflects on the lives of the people during that time period. Throughout the years musicians have created beautiful works of arts that have contributed to society by delivering messages or by simply entertaining masses. Billie Holiday Billie Holiday, a famous jazz singer, was born in Baltimore on April 7, 1915 (Margolick). In 1933, John Hammond, a producer, was fascinated by Holiday’s singing style after hearing her perform at a New York club. He managed to get Holiday to record a demo at Columbia Studios, which later led to her debut on November 1933 singing “Your Mother’s Son-In-Law.” (Margolick)…show more content…
“Strange Fruit” was originally a poem written by Abel Meeropol, a teacher and activist, who was appalled after seeing a picture of two black males being hanged. Other artists had previously sang Meeropol’s poem, but it was Holiday who popularized the song. Billie admitted to being fearful of performing the song that first night at the nightclub because she was afraid that people were going to retaliate. The song was so successful that Holiday made it a part of her daily performances, but because of the intensity of the song there were guidelines that had to be followed. For starters, servers had to stop all service, and besides the spotlight that was pointed at Holiday, the room had to be dark, and when Holiday would sing “Strange Fruit” it meant it was the end of her show.

More about Billie Holiday Research Paper

Open Document