Home · Artists · Billie Holiday

🇺🇸 United States · 1930–1959

Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday, born Eleanora Fagan, left an indelible mark on jazz music and popular singing. Her interpretive style, deeply influenced by jazz instrumentalists, introduced a novel way of playing with phrasing and rhythm. This uniqueness, combined with her improvisational skill, set her apart from the beginning. Discovered by producer John Hammond while singing in Harlem clubs, she signed her first recording contract with Brunswick in 1935. Her collaboration with Teddy Wilson resulted in *What a Little Moonlight Can Do*, a piece that became a genre standard. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Holiday enjoyed great popularity, recording for labels such as Columbia and Decca.

Holiday’s career was also marked by difficult moments. In the late 1940s, she faced legal troubles and personal struggles tied to substance abuse. Despite these hardships, after serving a brief sentence, she returned to the stage with a landmark concert at Carnegie Hall. She remained a highly sought-after artist during the 1950s, delivering more successful performances at the same iconic venue. Her final recordings, including the 1958 album *Lady in Satin*, reflected changes in her voice, and though they received mixed reviews, they achieved moderate commercial success. Billie Holiday passed away in 1959 at the age of 44 due to cirrhosis and heart failure.

Blues Jazz swing traditional pop vocal jazz 1910s

3 Albums

49 Songs

2,4M Listeners/mo

Start playing

Most played on DoReSol

Essential songs

See all 49 →

Strange Fruit

Lady Sings the Blues

2:43 02

Say It Isn't So

Lady Sings the Blues · 1956

3:01 03

I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm

Lady Sings the Blues · 1956

3:55 04

I Wished On The Moon

Lady Sings the Blues · 1956

6:48 05

Always

Lady Sings the Blues · 1956

3:57 06

Everything Happens To Me

Lady Sings the Blues · 1956

6:20 07

Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me

Lady Sings the Blues · 1956

5:00 08

Ain't Misbehavin'

Lady Sings the Blues · 1956

4:38 09

Trav'lin Light

Lady Sings the Blues · 1956

3:07 10

I Must Have That Man!

Lady Sings the Blues · 1956

3:04

The full catalog on DoReSol

All songs

Ain't Misbehavin'

Lady Sings the Blues · 1956

All of You

Lady in Satin · 1958

All the Way

Lady in Satin · 1958

Always

Lady Sings the Blues · 1956

Baby, Won’t You Please Come Home

Lady in Satin · 1958

But Beautiful

Lady in Satin · 1958

Crazy He Calls Me

Lover Man · 2005

Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me

Lady Sings the Blues · 1956

Don’t Worry ’bout Me

Lady in Satin · 1958

Everything Happens To Me

Lady Sings the Blues · 1956

For All We Know

Lady in Satin · 1958

For Heaven’s Sake

Lady in Satin · 1958

Glad to Be Unhappy

Lady in Satin · 1958

God Bless The Child

Lady Sings the Blues · 1956

God Bless The Child (Rehearsal)

Lady Sings the Blues · 1956

Good Morning Heartache

Lady Sings the Blues · 1956

I Get Along Without You Very Well

Lady in Satin · 1958

I Must Have That Man!

Lady Sings the Blues · 1956

I Wished On The Moon

Lady Sings the Blues · 1956

I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm

Lady Sings the Blues · 1956

It’s Easy to Remember

Lady in Satin · 1958

It’s Not for Me to Say

Lady in Satin · 1958

I’ll Be Around

Lady in Satin · 1958

I’ll Never Smile Again

Lady in Satin · 1958

I’m a Fool to Want You

Lady in Satin · 1958

Just One More Chance

Lady in Satin · 1958

Lady Sings The Blues

Lady Sings the Blues · 1956

Lover Man

Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)

Lover Man · 2005

My Man (Mon Homme)

Lover Man · 2005

No Good Man

Lady Sings the Blues · 1956

Porgy

Lover Man · 2005

Say It Isn't So

Lady Sings the Blues · 1956

Solitude

Lover Man · 2005

Some Other Spring

Lady Sings the Blues · 1956

Sometimes I’m Happy

Lady in Satin · 1958

Strange Fruit

Lady Sings the Blues

That Ole Devil Called Love

Lover Man · 2005

The End of a Love Affair

Lady in Satin · 1958

There Is No Greater Love

Lover Man · 2005

There’ll Be Some Changes Made

Lady in Satin · 1958

Trav'lin Light

Lady Sings the Blues · 1956

Violets for Your Furs

Lady in Satin · 1958

When It’s Sleepy Time Down South

Lady in Satin · 1958

You Don’t Know What Love Is

Lady in Satin · 1958

You Took Advantage of Me

Lady in Satin · 1958

You're My Thrill

Lover Man · 2005

You’ve Changed

Lady in Satin · 1958

’Deed I Do

Lady in Satin · 1958

3 album|s · 1956 — 2005

Full discography

2005 ★ Essential

Lover Man

9 song|s · Blues

1958 ★ Essential

Lady in Satin

24 song|s · Blues

1956 ★ Essential

Lady Sings the Blues

16 song|s · Blues

Details, awards, members and more

More about Billie Holiday

Biography

Holiday’s legacy has been recognized with numerous honors. She received four posthumous Grammy Awards for historic albums. She was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame. In 2000, she was added to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an early influence, with the institution noting that “Billie Holiday changed jazz forever.” Her voice was also ranked by NPR as one of the 50 most important voices, and in 2023, Rolling Stone placed her at number four on its list of the 200 best singers of all time. Holiday’s life has inspired several films, including *Lady Sings the Blues* (1972) and *The United States vs. Billie Holiday* (2021).