By Janice K. Neal-Vincent, Ph.D.,
Contributing Writer,
The iconic jazz singer, Billie Holiday (nicknamed “Lady Day” by her music partner, Lester Young), has stood out among many in the world of music since the beginning days of her musical career which started in the early 1900s, and ended in 1944.
She mesmerized audiences with her articulate, vocal and shallow resonance that caused them to hang on to her lingering expressions. She knew how to pull them into her life’s experiences with the songs she sang. Though the wheel of time has pressed forward, and the icon has been gone for many years, Holiday’s voice continues to infiltrate the minds of jazz lovers who are woven into a tapestry of love by her belching tunes.
Holiday’s fans crowded Highland Colony Park’s Fusion Coffeehouse in Ridgeland, Miss. Saturday, August 17, 2024, from 1:00 p.m. -3:00 p.m. Live music by Raphael Semmes (bassist) and Andrew Lewis (pianist) captivated the viewers. The musicians’ timely rhythms, keyboard and guitar strikes filled the house with intimacy and appreciation.
Not only did Semmes and Lewis appease the audience with the tunes that they played together, but they also satisfied them when they accompanied Holiday’s jazz vocalists.
Rhonda Richmond and Tara Janique Toney are recipients of numerous awards.
Richmond, Mississippi native, references her music as “steeped in blues, peppered with jazz and a healthy dose of rhythms of the world.”
Toney, Mobile, Ala. native, is a vocalist at Tara Janique & Company. She says that her music is “fit for a band.”
These artists brought listeners to the mental setting of a “Lady Day” presence with songs like “Good Morning Heartache,” “God Bless the Child,” “Easy Living,” “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” and “Strange Fruit.”
Both Richmond and Toney, artists in their own right, stood with vigor at the mic during separate intervals and revitalized Holiday’s songs, thereby creating spellbound moments that impacted listeners.
Among all the songs that were performed, “Strange Fruit” was the one that rested the most on the audience’s shoulders. This protest against lynchings’ song held a special place in Holiday’s heart, and she knew how to reflect the pain of racism while singing it.
Living during the Jim Crow era, the legendary singer and civil rights activist refused to submit to crowds and the U.S. government that targeted her for drug abuse and strived to silence her from singing the song. Hence, Holiday sang “Strange Fruit” at the end of her singing act per show. Note the following stanza:
Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swingin’ in the Southern breeze
Strange fruit hangin’ from the poplar trees.
Meredith Coleman McGee (professional writer, book publisher, poet, lecturer and small business owner) read an excerpt from her eleventh and recently published book, “Billie Holiday: Jazz Singer, A Biography of Lady Day:”
“Billie Holiday lives through her music. During her 30-year singing career, she released 38 charting singles and sang over 350 different tunes. Though Billie Holiday never learned how to read music and her voice was limited in range, she phrased words beautifully and her voice was the defining voice in jazz for her generation. She influenced 20th and 21st century artists including Frank Sinatra and others such as Etta James, Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell, Tony Bennett, Bob Dylan, Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, Sting, Bono, Cassandra Wilson, Amy Winehouse, Tawanna Shaunte and Adele. Today, Billie Holiday’s music sells more than any of her jazz female contemporaries.”
In her own words, Holiday stated, “No two people on earth are alike, and it’s got to be that way in music, or it isn’t music.” Holiday’s uniqueness ignited Time magazine to list her on the cover 100 Women of the Year (Singular Voice). Such uniqueness compelled Andra Day to portray her in the biopic The United States v. Billie Holiday, directed by Lee Daniels. Day won a Golden Globe for her portrayal on Feb. 26, 2021. Then on Jan. 1, 2023, Rolling Stone magazine listed Holiday as #4 on its 2000 Greatest Singers of All Times list.
Born Eleanora Harris (Fagan/Gough) on April 7, 1915, in Philadelphia, PA, Billie Holiday was raised in Baltimore, MD. She cut her first record in 1933. She achieved fame in Harlem, NY. She left behind jazz originality and social influence.
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