Billie Holiday popular jazz standard "Summertime, was listed on the available pop charts at number 12, the first time the jazz standard charted under any artist.
"God Bless the Child" became Holiday's most popular and covered on record. It reached number 25 on the charts in 1941 and was third in Billboard's songs of the year, selling over a million records. In 1976, the song was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame.
| Birth name | Eleanora Fagan |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Lady Day |
| Born | April 7, 1915 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Origin | Harlem, New York, U.S. |
| Died | July 17, 1959 (aged 44) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | Vocal jazz, jazz blues, torch songs, swing, blues, R&B |
| Occupation(s) | Singer and songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1933–1959 |
| Website | www.billieholiday.com |
Discography | Studio albums | Compilation albums | Singles | Songs | Tours | Videography | Filmography | Television
When Holiday died, The New York Times published a short obituary on page 15 without a byline. She left an estate of $1,000 and her best recordings from the '30s were mostly out of print. Holiday's public stature grew in the following years. In 1961 she was voted to the Down Beat Hall Of Fame and soon after Columbia reissued nearly a hundred of her early records. In 1972 Diana Ross' portrayal of Holiday in Lady Sings The Blues was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe. Holiday would go on to be nominated for 23 posthumous Grammy awards. Billie Holiday received several Esquire Magazine awards during her lifetime. Her posthumous awards also include being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame. In 1985 Baltimore, Maryland erected a statue of Billie Holiday that was completed in 1993 with additional panels of images inspired by her seminal song Strange Fruit. In 2019, Chirlane McCray announced that New York City would build a statue honoring Holiday near Queens Borough Hall.
