Billie Holiday, the daughter of guitarist Clarence Holiday, was born in Baltimore, Maryland on April 7, 1915 and died in New York on July 17, 1959.

She was discovered in a New York night club by John Hammond who arranged for her recording debut with Benny Goodman. Subsequently, she appeared at the Apollo Theater in Harlem and recorded with Teddy Wilson's band (1935). Her recording sessions became almost legendary events during the 1930s, because they regularly involved top musicians of the day, especially those featured with the bands of Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson and Chick Webb. 1

Oscar Peterson first met her when he was invited to a party at her home. The two worked with each other and made several recordings together between 1952 and 1957.

"She phrased in a definitely instrumental fashion, although her instrumental-like, horn-influenced singing was never less than music, distorting neither melodic line nor interfering with the matchless way in which she lived a lyric. The feeling she communicated through song, whether in live performance or on record, could be devastating, and very real. At the time her talent was emerging in the 30s, it was fashionable for a black singer to sound white, to appeal to a wider audience. She always was a black singer; curiously she ended up probably appealing more to a white audience."  2

Selected Recordings

The Unforgettable Lady Day, with Oscar Peterson (1952, Verve 8338-2)
Solitude, with Oscar Peterson (1952, Verve 690)
God Bless The Child (1941, OK 6270)

Footnotes

1 Kernfeld, Barry.   The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz.   London: Macmillan Press Ltd, 1988. p.533-534.

2 Lees, Gene.   Oscar Peterson: The Will to Swing.   Rocklin, California: Prima Publishing & Communications, 1990.

O.P. & Friends