Billie+Holiday+by+Kara

** Billie Holiday was born on April 7, 1915 with the birth name Elinore Harrisand her father (also a jazz musician) left the family, so she was left with abusive relatives while her mom was working. She was sent to a reformatory. When she was out of the reformatory was arrested as a teen. While arrested she became acquainted with jazz. She spent most of her childhood in Baltimore, Maryland. She started singing jazz in the early 1930’s in Harlem nightclubs and had adopted the stage name Billie Holiday (she also had a nickname "Lady Day"(a combination of 1920’s film star Billie Dove & her father’s surname Holiday). She soon was performing with the biggest names in jazz. She had no formal training and displayed unique phrasing. After her 1937 tour with Count Basie she joined with Artie Shaw’s group becoming the first African-American to perform with an “All White Group”. She started a group based of operations of the Café Society. She was arrested for drug possession and was jailed for 8 months. Being jailed took away her singing license. Her voice started growing weaker under stress. She started facing more run-ins with the law. In the mid 1950’s,she started touring Europe. Sadly, she smoked and couldn’t get over her addiction, and came to heart and liver problems making them shut down. She finally died July 17,1959, but her music still lives through people today. ** ** Kara Agee ** ** References: biography.com & Kit Agee (Dad) **