(1915 - 1959)

Hometown: Baltimore, Maryland

First Job: cleaning apartments

Instruments Played: Her Voice

Billie Holiday's childhood was filled with hard times.

Before the age of 15, Billie lived with various relatives including her

grandparents and older cousin and then her mom in New York City.

She started working at an early age. At 15, she began singing in a

nightclub. Because she had to sing the same songs over and over, she

chose to never sing the same song in the same way twice. In 1935, Billie

got her first record deal. While on the outside, Holiday made beautiful jazz

music, on the inside she struggled personally. She suffered from mental

depression and was addicted to drugs and alcohol. While Billie did try to

overcome these problems, her health suffered and she died at the

early age of 45.

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