Billie Holiday

(Languages of this post: Interlingua, English)

Quando Billie Holiday nasceva in 1915 in Baltimore, Maryland, su nomine esseva Eleanora Fagan. Su patres esseva Sadie Fagan e Clarence Holiday. Illes esseva juvene quando Billie nasceva. Lor maritage terminava proque su patre, un musico de jazz, viagiava in diverse partes del Statos Unite pro participar in concertos con plures del prime bandas de jazz e non poteva porta su familia con se.

Le matre de Billie mundava le casas de personas assatis affluente. Ma illa non poteva sustener su familia con le moneta que illa ganiava. Illa tunc vadeva a New York City, ubi illa sperava poter ganiar plus moneta. Illa non portava su filia con se, e Billie vadeva a viver con altere membros de su familia.

Le infantia de Billie esseva tragic. Quando illa habeva dece annos, un homine la attaccava sexualmente. On la accusava de causar le attacco, e illa debeva vader a un prision pro infantes.

Billie tunc cambiava su nomine de Eleanora Fagan a Billie Holiday. Illa seligeva le nomine “Billie” proque illa esseva un fan del astro cinematic Billie Dove. Billie Holiday amava cantar. Illa cantava e ascoltava musica quandocunque illa poteva.

Un bordello presso su casa habeva un machina con registrationes del musica popular del epocha. Billie mundava le solo del bordello e faceva altere travalios pro le prostitutas qui travaliava illac de maniera que illa poteva audir iste registrationes de artistas famose american como Bessie Smith e Louis Armstrong. Ambe iste musicos habeva un grande influentia sur su maniera de cantar.

Billie Holiday diceva un vice “Quando io canta, io essaya a imitar le sono de un trumpetta. Lo que veni de mi bucca es lo que io senti. Non me place cantar como altere cantantes. Io debe modificar le melodias que io canta secundo lo que me pare correcte pro mi proprie voce. Io simplemente non pote cantar de un altere maniera.”

In 1927 Billie vadeva a viver con su matre in Harlem, le parte de New York City ubi viveva multe afroamericanos. Un altere vice, Billie debeva viver in un bordello. Al etate de dece e tres annos, Billie deveniva un prostituta. Un die illa refusava le demandas sexual de un cliente, e illa esseva arrestate e passava quatro menses in prision.

Duo annos plus tarde, le matre de Billie deveniva malade e non poteva travaliar. Al etate de dece e cinque annos, Billie debeva cercar un empleo. Finalmente, illa trovava un empleo como cantatrice en un cabaret de Harlem.

Pro le proxime dece e septe annos, illa esseva un del plus popular cantatrices de New York, e in le prime parte del decada que comenciava con 1930, un productor de musica, John Hammond, audiva Billie durante que illa cantava. Ille credeva que illa esseva le melior cantante que ille unquam habeva audite, e ille portava multe gente famose pro audir la durante que illa travaliava.

Hammond produceva le prime registrationes de Billie Holiday. Ille contractava le melior musicos de jazz pro accompaniar la. Illes includeva Le clarinettista Benny Goodman, le pianista Teddy Wilson, le trompettero Roy Eldridge, e le saxophonista Ben Webster, e omne iste muscos e le musica que illes sonava con Billie Holiday deveniva famose.

In le ultime parte del annos trenta, Billie Holiday cantava con le banda de Artie Shaw durante que illo viagiava trans le Statos Unite. Illa esseva un del prime cantantantes afroamerican qui travaliava con un banda de euroamericanos. Ma a causa de leges de segregation racial, Billie Holiday non poteva usar le mesme hoteles del musicos del banda de Shaw, e viagiar esseva multo difficile pro illa.

Durante iste epocha, Café Society, un nove cabaret, aperiva in le area de New York appellate Greenwich Village. Illo esseva le prime loco que hospedava musicos euro- e afroamerican. E ambe euroamericanos e afroamericanos esseva benvenite a audir le musica que se sonava illac.

Il esseva in Café Society que Billie primo cantava “Strange Fruit”, cuje thema esseva le injustitia e le oppression de afroamericanos in le statos del parte meridional del Statos Unite. Illo narrava como turbas de euroamericanos torturava homines afroamerican e les faceva pender de arbores. Multe gente habeva objectiones a “Strange Fruit”, ma illo deveniva popularissime in despecto de lor objectiones.

In le prime parte del annos 1940, Billie Holiday comenciava a usar le heroina. Illa deveniva un addicto a iste droga, e illo comenciava a facer deteriorar su sanitate.

In 1947 on arrestava Billie Holiday pro le possession de heroina, e illa debeva passar nove menses in prision pro le uso de iste droga. Al fin de su menses in prision, le autoritates legal de New York City non voleva dar a illa un documento que la permitteva cantar in locos ubi on serviva bibitas alcoholic, e Billie non poteva continuar a cantar in cabarets de jazz. Illa poteva cantar solmente in theatros e salas de concerto. Dece dies post su menses in prision, Billie cantava in Carnegie Hall.

In 1956 Billie Holiday publicava su autobiographia, “Lady Sings the Blues”. Un amico de illa qui travaliava al jornal “New York Post” la adjuvava a scriber iste libro. Unes menses plus tarde, on la arrestava un altere vice pro le uso de heroina. Ma in vice de vader a prision, illa vadeva a un centro de tractamento pro personas con addictiones. Le tractamento esseva succedite. Ille mesme anno, Billie dava su secunde concerto a Carnegie Hall.

Ma le sanitate de Billie Holiday esseva ruinate per le alcoholismo e le drogas illegal que illa usava. Illa comenciava a dar su ultime concerto in 1959, ma a causa de su sanitate deterioriate, illa non poteva completar le concerto. Illa moriva plus tarde ille anno al etate de quaranta e quatro annos. Ma a causa de su registrationes, illa ha devenite immortal, e multe cantantes de jazz continua a esser influentiate per su musica.

(Multo felicemente, on pote accessar multo facilemente in YouTube le musica de Billie Holiday e le altere artistas del jazz american.)

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When Billie Holiday was born in 1915 in Baltimore, Maryland, her name was Eleanora Fagan. Her parents were Sadie Fagan and Clarence Holiday. They were young when Billie was born. Their marriage ended because her father, a jazz musician, traveled in various parts of the United States to participate in concerts with several of the first jazz bands and could not take his family with him.

Billie’s mother cleaned the houses of people who were rather well off. But she could not support her family with the money she earned. She then went to New York City, where she hoped to be able to earn more money. She could not take her daughter with her, and Billie went to live with other members of her family.

Billie’s childhood was tragic. When she was twelve years old, a man sexually attacked her. She was accused of causing the attack, and she had to go to a prison for children.

Billie then changed her name from Eleanor Fagan to Billie Holiday. She chose the name “Billie” because she was a fan of the movie star Billie Dove. Billie Holiday loved to sing. She sang and listened to music whenever she could.

A brothel near her house had a machine with recordings of the popular music of that era. Billie cleaned the floors of the brothel and did other work for the prostitutes who worked there so that she could hear the recordings of famous American artists such as Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong. Both these musicians had a great influence on her way of singing.

Billie Holiday once said “When I sing, I try to imitate the sound of a trumpet. What comes from my mouth is what I feel. I don’t like to sing like other singers. I have to change the melodies that I sing according to what seems correct for my own voice. I simply cannot sing in any other way.”

In 1927 Billie went to live with her mother in Harlem, the part of New York City where many African Americans lived. Once again, Billie had to live in a brothel. At the age of thirteen, Billie became a prostitute. One day she refused the sexual demands of a client, and she was arrested and spent four months in prison.

Two years later, Billie’s mother got sick and was not able to work. At the age of fifteen, Billie had to look for work. Finally, she got a job as a singer in a Harlem night club.

For the next seventeen years, she was one of the most popular singers of New York, and in the first part of the decade beginning in 1930, a music producer, John Hammond, heard Billie while she was singing. He thought that she was the best singer that he had ever heard, and he brought many famous people to hear her while she worked.

Hammond produced Billy Holiday’s first recordings. He hired the best jazz musicians to accompany her. They include the clarinettist Benny Goodman, the pianist Teddy Wilson, the trumpeter Roy Eldridge, and the saxophonist Ben Webster, and all these musicians and the music that they played with Billie Holliday became famous.

In the last part of the 1930s, Billie Holiday sang with Artie Shaw’s band as it traveled throughout the United States. She was one of the first African American singers who worked with a white band. But because of racial-segregation laws, Billie Holiday was not able to stay at the same hotels used by Shaw’s band, and traveling was very difficult for her.

During that era, Café Society, a new cabaret, opened in the area of New York known as Greenwich Village. It was the first place that welcomed black and white musicians. And both blacks and whites were welcome to hear the music that was played there.

It was in Café Society that Billie first sang “Strange Fruit,” whose theme was the injustice and oppression of African Americans in the southern United States. It told about how Euroamericans tortured black men and hanged them from trees. Many people had objections to “Strange Fruit,” but it became very popular in spite of their objections.

At the beginning of the 1940s, Billie Holiday started to use heroin. She became an addict to this drug, and it started to affect her health.

In 1947 Billie Holiday was arrested for the possession of heroin, and she had to spend nine months in prison for the use of this drug. At the end of her months in prison, the legal authorities of New York City did not want to give her a document allowing her to sing in places where alcoholic drinks were served, and Billie was not able to sing in jazz nightclubs. She was able to sing only in theaters and concert halls. Ten days after her months in prison, Billie sang in Carnegie Hall.

In 1956 Billie Holiday published her autobiography, “Lady Sings the Blues.” A friend of hers who worked at the “New York Post” helped her write this book. A few months later, she was arrested once again for the use of heroin. But instead of going to prison, she went to a treatment center for people with addictions. The treatment was successful. That same year, Billie gave another concert at Carnegie Hall.

But Billie Holiday’s health was ruined because of alcoholism and the illegal drugs that she used. She started to give her last concert in 1959, but because of her declining health, she was not able to finish it. She died later on that year at age forty-four. But because of her recordings, she has become immortal, and many jazz singers continue to be influenced by her music.

(Quite fortunately, the music of Billie Holiday and other American jazz artists can be accessed quite easily on YouTube.)