Billie Holiday

For the Canadian radio personality with the same name, see Billie Holiday (broadcaster) Billie Holiday File:Billie Holiday 0001 original. jpgPortrait from Down Beat magazine, ca. February 1947Background informationBirth name Eleanora HarrisBorn Template:Safesubst:April 7, 1915(1915-04-07)Template:Safesubst:Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United StatesDied Template:Safesubst:July 17, 1959(1959-07-17) (aged 44)Template:Safesubst:New York City, New York, United StatesOccupations Singer, songwriter, actressYears active 1933–1959 Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Harris April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed Lady Day by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. Critic John Bush wrote that Holiday changed the art of American pop vocals forever. She co-wrote only a few songs, but several of them have become jazz standards, notably God Bless the Child, Don't Explain, Fine and Mellow, and Lady Sings the Blues. She also became famous for singing Easy Living, Good Morning Heartache, and Strange Fruit, a protest song which became one of her standards and was made famous with her 1939 recording.