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profile name: Billie Holiday
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After the Civil War, many of the country's best and brightest black advocates, artists, entrepreneurs and intellectuals moved to the New York City neighborhood of Harlem. Thanks largely to the efforts of these residents, Harlem became both the cradle of a cultural revolution and the heart of the civil rights movement. Meet some of the many people who gave—and continue to give—this neighborhood a voice, simply by calling it home.
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Famous Harlem Residents
62 people in this group
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Many African-Americans made their name performing at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, including Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown and Jimi Hendrix. The roster of talented artists who made their careers after a successful amateur night at the Apollo grew so large, that the venue earned a reputation as the place to jump-start the career of an ambitious hopeful. Other performers, like Aretha Franklin and Michael Jackson, came to the theater after experiencing big professional success, adding further credibility to the historic New York concert hall. Explore the biographies of some of the more notable African-Americans who stepped out onto the Apollo stage, making entertainment history.
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Apollo Legends
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In the 1920s, women like Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith were the first—and for a while, the only—artists to record the blues. American women of this era made great strides toward gaining equality and basic human rights for themselves and others in society, including attaining the right to vote and working toward social justice. The 20th century was a wide-open opportunity for women to embrace the modern world, outside of the traditional bounds of the home.
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Foremothers of Rock
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photos
Billie Holiday
20165541
Billie Holiday began her singing career at Harlem’s jazz club Pod’s and Jerry’s in 1931.
20165543
Holiday sings “Fine & Mellow” during a jam session in photographer Gjon Mili’s studio in 1942.
20165545
Jazz composer Duke Ellington sits with Billie Holiday and pianist and music critic Leonard Feather in this 1945 photo. Holiday starred in a short film with Ellington in 1935 and toured Europe with Feather in 1954.
20165547
Holiday poses with her dog Mister in her dressing room in 1946.
20165591
Jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong performed with Holiday in the 1947 film 'New Orleans'
20165593
Billie Holiday drops in for Ella Fitzgerald's performance in 1947 at Bop City nightclub in New York and has a drink with the jazz vocalist and her husband, bassist Ray Brown.
20165595
Carl Van Vechten, a photographer and writer who took a particular interest in African Amercan artists of the era, photographed Holiday in 1949.
20165597
Billie Holiday said of her singing: “I always wanted Bessie’s big sound and Pops’ feeling”, referring to jazz singer Bessie Smith and trumpeter Louis Armstrong.
20165707
Holiday sits with fellow jazz legends, vocalist Sarah Vaughn, trumpeter Louis Armstrong and friend Howard Dennis in 1950.
20165709
Billie Holiday leaves a police station in Philadelphia with her dog after being arrested on drug charges in 1956.
20165711
Due to her drug conviction in 1956, Holiday lost her cabaret license, which prevented her from performing at venues serving alcohol in New York City.
20165713
In 1957, Holiday performed at the Sugar Hill nightclub in Newark, New Jersey. That same year, she performed at the Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island.
20165715
Saxophonist Coleman Hawkins and Holiday at a Columbia Records recording session in 1957.
20165717
Billie Holiday had plenty of love affairs, but was only married twice - to trombonist Jimmy Monroe, and then to small time gangster and manager Louis McKay.
20165719
Orchestra leader Ray Ellis poses with Holiday in 1958. Holiday made her final studio recording with Ellis’ orchestra the following year.
20165721
More than a thousand mourners turned out for Billie Holiday’s funeral on July 18th in 1959 at St. Paul’s the Apostle Roman Catholic Church in New York City. Among the pallbearers were jazz greats Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson and Tony Scott.
20165723
Singer Diana Ross portrayed legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday in the 1972 film “Lady Sings The Blues” and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
20165725
Billie Holiday is immortalized as a wax figure at Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in New York’s Times Square.
20165727
Considered one of the best jazz vocalists of all time, Billie Holiday has been an influence on many other performers who have followed in her footsteps.