Lyrics | Artists | Billie Holiday

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Billie Holiday

A tragic figure with an unhappy life, Billie Holiday had a rare ability to translate her pain and heartache into music to touch audiences in a uniquely emotional fashion. Her absentee father Clarence Holiday was a jazz musician, but she had a troubled upbringing, involving petty crime and spells at reform school, was reputedly raped at 11 and lived in a brothel with her mother, a Harlem prostitute. Inspired by Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith, Holiday teamed up with a sax player, changed her name from Eleanora to Billie - after actress Billie Dove - and sang in local clubs, where...