Who was born Eleanora Fagan?

Billie Holiday was born Eleanora Fagan on April 7, 1915 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Her friend and musical partner, Lester Young, nicknamed her “Lady Day”.

Holiday’s mother, Sarah Julia "Sadie" Fagan, came home from work in 1926 to find a neighbor raping 11 year-old Eleanora. Sadie decided to move to Harlem after that. Holiday joined her mother in Harlem in 1929. At the age of 14 she became a prostitute and was arrested in a raid. After being released from the workhouse, she teamed with a saxophone player playing several clubs in Harlem and that led to her first recording at age 18. As they say, “the rest is history”.

She had a formative influence on jazz and pop music. Her vocal style established a new way of handling tempo and phrasing. She co-wrote a few songs and some have become jazz standards. She became famous for singing "Easy Living", "Good Morning Heartache", and "Strange Fruit" On July 17, 1959, she died from pulmonary edema and heart failure caused by cirrhosis of the liver she developed from years of heavy drinking and drug use.