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Billie Holiday was born on April 7th, 1915. She claims that she was born in Baltimore, but a biographer named Donald Clarke noted that her birth records stated she was born at the Philadelphia General Hospital. She was the daughter of Clarence Holiday and Sadie Fagan. Her father abandoned her family when she was very young and refused to acknowledge the existence of Billie until after her first musical success. In her teenage years, Billie was known for dancing and singing along to some of the most popular record of the time, including Janice Joplin and Diana Ross. Later, her mother left her with some relatives and moved to New York. Billie claimed that while with her relatives, they abused her. In 1928, after little schooling and being mistreated, she left for New York to join her mother. This is where her musical career began. …show more content…
But it wasn’t long after 1930 that she started performing in nightclubs located in Harlem. By the time Billie turned 18, her talent was noticed and the word of Billie Holiday’s singing began to spread. While she was performing at “Monnette’s,” a club in Harlem, John Hammond discovered her talent. He then set her up with three recording opportunities with Benny Goodman, and he also found scheduled her to perform in the upper New York clubs. Less than two years later, Billie came out with four songs. Two of these were “Miss Brown to You” and “What a Little Moonlight Can Do,” which would later become some of her well-known hits. In 1938, she was given the opportunity to go on tour with Artie Shaw, making her the first black woman to sing along side a white orchestra. Billie quickly became known for her jazzy, swing style

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