Billie Holiday Research Paper

Eleanora Fagan, a popular American jazz singer and songwriter, is one of the most influential and powerful vocal jazz singers. Also known as Billie Holiday, Eleanora Fagan is best known for capturing the attention of her audience with her amazing vocal and delivery skills. Her extraordinary manipulation of phrasing, tempo, and improvisation skills, make her an influential pioneer in American jazz music. Although she received some formal education from known artists such as Bessie Smith, and influence from Louis Armstrong, Holiday’s singing career began in nightclubs around Harlem where she worked harsh hours and was paid $2 a night for 6 nights a week. Her strong vocal style, nonetheless, still influences American music to this day.
Born in 1915, Billie Holiday was the daughter of Sarah Fagan, 19 and Clarence Holiday, 17. (Different sources argue the age of the couple, some saying Holiday was the daughter of a 13-year-old mother and a 15-year-old father.) Ultimately, however, the young
The delivery of her performances shared the many struggles and sadness of her difficult life and continue to become a part of so many lives. Holiday’s powerful emotions with which she sang moved anyone that would listen to her. Her unique voice, and improvisation skills, compensated for her lack of musical education. It was she who influenced Frank Sinatra as a young man and who in 1958, told Ebony about her impact: “With few exceptions, every major pop singer in the US during her generation has been touched in some way by her genius…. Lady Day [Billie Holiday] is unquestionably the most important influence on American popular singing in the last twenty years.” (Clarke, pg.96). Her ability to sing without using any words was the major impact on Sinatra many other succeeding singers such as Shelby Lynne, who admired and looked upon Lady Day’s unique talent and gift to convey raw emotion in