{"id":1936,"date":"2014-03-11T10:16:24","date_gmt":"2014-03-11T15:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lovingonme.com\/?p=1936"},"modified":"2017-05-10T13:47:32","modified_gmt":"2017-05-10T18:47:32","slug":"billie-holiday-the-rose-that-grew-from-concrete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/2014\/03\/11\/billie-holiday-the-rose-that-grew-from-concrete\/","title":{"rendered":"Billie Holiday: The Rose That Grew From Concrete"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/billie-holiday-whm.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2103 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/billie-holiday-whm-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"billie-holiday-whm\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><em>\u201cIf I\u2019m going to sing like someone else, then I don\u2019t need to sing at all.\u201d \u2013 Billie Holiday<\/em><\/p>\n<p>That quote says it all! Her voice was unique and undeniable. Her soulful delivery conveyed a beauty and emotion like no other, making her one of the greatest jazz artists of all time. This was the essence of the legendary songbird Billie Holiday.<\/p>\n<p>Born Eleanora Fagan, Billie Holiday grew up in Baltimore in the 1920s. Her childhood was less than innocent, being exposed to prostitution and rape before turning 14 years old. She began her singing career in her teen years performing karaoke-style to the tunes of Bessie Smith or Louis Armstrong in neighborhood jazz clubs. Like many in pursuit of a better life during that time, Billie\u2019s mother, Sadie Fagan, moved to New York. Billie followed, accelerating her music career.<\/p>\n<p>With no formal training or ability to read music, Billie entertained audiences in little-known nightclubs, unknowingly becoming part of the vibrant and up-and-coming\u00a0Harlem jazz scene. She was soon discovered and performed with a group led by Benny Goodman.<\/p>\n<p>Over the years, the singer performed with some of the most notable names in jazz, including Count Basie, Lester Young, and Duke Ellington. Her song <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=h4ZyuULy9zs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u201cStrange Fruit\u201d<\/a> became one of her best known pieces, written as a protest song describing the lynching of a black man.<\/p>\n<p>Nicknamed \u201cLady Day\u201d, Billie Holiday has been honored for her accomplishments and contributions to the world of jazz. She is a true original and an example of the greatness that can come from hardship. We salute singer Billie Holiday as she is undoubtedly worthy of a place on the Power 31 list!<\/p>\n<p>Learn about more <a href=\"http:\/\/lovingonme.com\/category\/loving-learning\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Women Who Dared <\/a>in our Women&#8217;s History Month Features throughout March!<\/p>\n<p>And don&#8217;t forget to share with friends and family on social media using the hashtag <strong>#Dare2BMe.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cIf I\u2019m going to sing like someone else, then I don\u2019t need to sing at all.\u201d \u2013 Billie Holiday That quote says it all! Her voice was unique and undeniable. Her soulful delivery conveyed a beauty and emotion like no other, making her one of the greatest jazz artists of all time. This was the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":11688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sharing_disabled":false,"switch_like_status":false,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[107,13748410],"tags":[204997470,204997671,204997489,204997450],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/billie-holiday-whm.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4eAxC-ve","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1936"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1936"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12614,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1936\/revisions\/12614"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}