Billie Holiday (1915–1959) remains one of the most influential vocalists jazz has ever produced, from her swing-era Columbia sides with Teddy Wilson and Lester Young to the late-career ache of Lady in Satin (1958). Strange Fruit (1939) alone changed what a song could do. Explore Billie Holiday vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Eleanora Fagan was born in Philadelphia on April 7, 1915 and raised in Baltimore. She began performing in New York nightclubs in 1933 and was discovered by producer John Hammond. Her early Columbia recordings with Teddy Wilson's small groups (1935-1942), including collaborations with Lester Young, established her as a defining jazz vocalist of the swing era. She recorded for Decca in the mid-late 1940s, working with larger orchestras and string arrangements, before moving to Norman Granz's Clef/Verve in 1952, where she made her final recordings. She died in New York on July 17, 1959 at age 44.
Holiday's vocal style was characterized by intimate, behind-the-beat phrasing, distinctive vocal tone, and an emotional directness that transformed popular song interpretation. Her readings of standards and her recording of Strange Fruit (1939), the anti-lynching song that became a defining protest anthem, demonstrated jazz vocal performance as serious art and social commentary.
Original Columbia, Decca, and Clef/Verve pressings of Holiday's catalog are widely collected. Multiple reissue programs (including Mosaic box sets and the Verve Acoustic Sounds Series) have issued audiophile pressings of her recordings.
Listeners new to Billie Holiday typically start with Lady in Satin (1958) or the Columbia compilation The Quintessential Billie Holiday.
