Do you like jazz? I shaped it to how you know it today! I was born on April 7th, 1956 as Eleanora Fagan, but you my know me as Billie Holiday. I lived a life of poverty. When I was young my mother and father moved away. My mother did not visit me at all, however, my father did visit, however that often. When my mom or dad was not there to supervise me my abusive family members had to take care of me. Their feelings for me were much different from the feelings my parents had. When I was young I worked at the family diner until it closed down.
To be honest I never really liked school that much. I always tried to sneak out of my classes. After my parents found out they sent me to a place called the House of Good Shepherd which was a place to help troubled African American girls, when I was 9. After I left someone raped me when I was only 10, so I was brought back. Later in my life I married 3 men Jimmy Monroe, Louis Mckay, and Joe Guy. I divorced the first 2 and stayed with Joe. I later died July 14th, 1956 from heart failure at age 44. If I was still alive I would be 104 years old.
I have accomplished a few things in my life, like being put in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the category of early influences in 2000. I also earned two grammys named Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Grammy Hall of Fame award. Even though I had a lot of accomplishments, I also had many obstacles to overcome like living with abusive family members, as well as drug abuse.
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Some cool facts about me are that I was the first black woman to work with a white orchestra, I sang duos and stared in a movie with Louis Armstrong. I took the name Billie Holiday from my favorite actor Billie Dove, and my father, so I could feel connected to him. My songs were very important since they made way for other black woman to perform. The time I lived made an impact on my life since at that time blacks were being assaulted by whites and I helped stop that by singing the blues. If I lived in a time like this I would not be a hero, I would only be a celebrity. I think I’m a hero and a celebrity since a hero is someone who changes people’s lives forever and a celebrity is someone who is famous. Thank you for listening to my life story I hope that this will make you interested to read more information about jazz. and its history.
