Billie Holiday

Lady Day, architect of jazz singing

Facts

• Born: 1915
• Country: United States
• Field: Music
• Era: Golden Age

Overview

Her Columbia recordings of the 1930s and later Commodore and Verve sessions set the standard for jazz vocal phrasing. Strange Fruit 1939, God Bless the Child 1941, and Lady in Satin 1958 are milestones. Strange Fruit was named to the first National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in 2002. She received a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987.