In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 7, 1915, Eleonora Fagan, later known as Billie Holiday, was born. Her father, Clarence Holiday, also a musician, never married or lived with her mother. Billie's childhood was difficult; her mother was a server on passenger trains, and because of her prolonged absences, was left to live with her married half-sister, Eva Miller. Billie was often absent from school and had to appear in juvenile court with charges of truancy. She was sent to a Catholic reform school and after nine months was permitted to go back to her mother. At this point, Holiday's mother opened a restaurant causing Billie to drop out of school and work long hours. The following year, after a long day working at the restaurant, Eva came home to find Billie had been raped by a neighbor. The Holidays pressed charges against the neighbor, he was sent to prison, and Billie was sent back to Catholic reform school. After leaving Catholic reform school, Billie returned home and found her mom had become a prostitute. Billie got into the business as well. Both woman were later arrested and sent to prison. When Billie was released, she began working as a singer in nightclubs. Holiday's reputation grew and grew, and soon she began singing at many night clubs all over New York. She soon caught the attention of John Hammond, a producer who quickly arranged for her to record two songs with Benny Goodman. Although the first song she recorded, "Your Mother's Son in Law", only sold 300 copies, her second sold 5,000, and Hammond was astounded by her singing talent. This caused him to sign Billie to his label, Brunswick Records, where she would record with accompanist, Teddy Wilson. She was later accompanied by a tenant at her mother's house, Lester Young. He gave her the well renowned nickname, "Lady Day". Her singing career quickly progressed, and in 1937, she began working with Count Basie. Then, in 1938, made the accomplishment of being the first black woman to sing with a white orchestra and Artie Shaw. Billie's song, "I'm Gonna Lock My Heart" was ranked the 6th most played song in September, 1938. In 1939, Holiday was signed to Columbia records where she recorded her single, "Strange Fruit". The song, being racially themed, was very controversial at the time. The record company feared a negative reaction from the South and, therefore, allowed her a one session release from her contract to record the song with her friend, Milt Gabler. When Holiday first sang the song for him a cappella, he was brought to tears. In order to capture the power of this song, Gabler thought it best to incorporate a 70 second introduction into the song; therefore, Billie began singing 70 seconds into the song. She recorded the song twice, once in 1939, and again in 1944. The 1939 version was Holiday's record selling single, selling one million copies. Strange Fruit exemplifies the racist ways of the 20's, 30's, and 40's. The song is based upon a poem written by a Jewish high school teacher from the Bronx, Abel Meeropol. His poem, entitled "Bitter Fruit" depicted the 1930 lynchings of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in Marion, Indiana. Meeropol published the poem in a Union magazine and asked many musicians to set it to music. The song/poem was racially themed and eluded to the undertone of racism that was present during the Harlem Renaissance. Racism was ever present in the south but still resonated into Harlem. The first line of the song is, "Southern trees bear a strange fruit," inferring the "strange fruit" is southern racism. The following lines, "Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze" refer to the lynchings, the blood being the blood of the victims. These last two lines burned an image of the cruelty of racism into the listener's mind. The final line of the song: "Here is a strange and bitter crop" sums up how strange racism is and how difficult it is for African Americans and others to understand.
Strange Fruit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1hm5fxJEkY