Billie Holiday

Born April 7, 1915, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.—died July 17, 1959

Billie Holiday overcame many obstacles to become the first African-American female singer to sing with an all-white band. 

One of her most famous songs, “Strange Fruit” was based on a horrific and detailed account of a lynching in the South. Many scholars now consider it one of the first protest songs of the Civil Rights Movement. Holiday was the first popular jazz singer to move audiences with the intense, personal feeling of classic blues, Billie Holiday changed the art of American pop vocals forever.