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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page paper which examines the life, songs and legacy of this African-American jazz vocalist. Bibliography lists 5 sources.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: TG15_TGbilhol.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
for certain whether she was born in Baltimore or Philadelphia, or if her sexual preference was for men or women, and there will never be a consensus as to whether
or not her so-called 1956 autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues (written by author William Dufty), and the subsequent 1972 film melodrama adaptation contain more fiction than fact.1 All that
is known is that while Billie Holidays vocal range may not have been impressive, her ability to experiment with this instrument continues to astound. In his commentary, "Our Lady
of Sorrows," Francis Davis observed that by drawing upon the heartaches from her own tortured life, the woman forever known as Lady Day "touches... fans where they hurt, soothing their
rage even while delivering a reminder of past humiliations and the potential for more."2 Born with the name of Eleanora Fagan on April 7, 1915, Billie Holiday was a child
of the streets, and had no problem earning a degree from the school of hard knocks. After becoming a prostitute, it was rumored she aborted an unwanted child as
a teenager by sitting in bathtub of hot water and mustard. In her autobiography, Holiday described her lifelong love affair for music, which she may have initially embraced as
a kind of personal salvation.3 While male lovers would betray her, seductive jazz rhythms and heart-tugging blues ballads remained always faithful. At the age of 18, she recorded
her first song; a swing tune entitled "Your Sons Mother-In-Law," with the Benny Goodman orchestra, and quickly became a favorite-featured vocalist at many of New Yorks hottest jazz nightspots.4
Throughout the 1930s, Holiday sang with mostly male bands, such as Artie Shaws orchestra, but would occasionally be prohibited from performing in a segregated nightclub. When this happened, white
...