REVIEWS

Once a week there will be a review take over: Throwback Thursdays, an album of the week with Dean Brown. This is a column that is partly run by y'all, too! If you have a recommendation for an album that you think could be good here, email me at dean.brown30@paceacademy.org .

Billie Holiday was born on April 7th 1915 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, though her birth-given name was Eleanora Fagan Gough. In her early years, one could find her in Baltimore, Maryland, singing alongside Bessie Smith or Louis Armstrong. In 1929, she and her mother, Sadie Fagan, moved up to New York in search of work. Even after never being able to read music, she quickly made a name for herself in the biggest arts movement of the time: The Harlem Renaissance.

During that time, she sang with many bands and artists, one of them being Artie Shaw’s Orchestra, which made her the first black lady to sing with a white band behind her. In 1939, Lady ‘Day was also introduced to the poem Strange Fruit by Mr. Abel Meeropol (under the pen name of Lewis Allan), a riveting piece on Southern lynchings. She had music written for her and the song.

Strange Fruit became what is known as the first song of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. Since she never had any technical training, her style, syncopations and overall swing made her an icon of the jazz era. After being signed with many records, like Columbia, Verve and Decca, she died of Cirrhosis of the liver and heart failure in 1959 at the age of 44. Years later, in 1972, a movie about Billie Holiday starring Diana Ross, Lady Sings the Blues, was released.

Solitude, released in 1956, is regarded as one of her best albums, showing the dynamics of her work voice as it conquers tempo, volume and such unique technique. It has been said it is her finest piece of work during her era with Verve Records. Though it is not on the album, here is Lady ‘Day singing  Strange Fruit live in the year 1959. Strange Fruit - Lady ‘Day.

Check out past TBT articles: