Billie Holiday

Eleanora Fagan; Philadelphia, 1915-New York, 1959), American jazz singer. Orphaned at an early age, his life was marked by misfortune: he raped at age ten, twelve began to prostitute, a fact for which he spent four months in prison.

Her luck changed after their participation in an audition for a job as a dancer in the Pod's & Jerry's, where, after a dismal failure, pianist local invited her to sing, which allowed the critic and producer John Hammond discovered in her extraordinary vocal qualities, despite their zero musical training.

Hammond got the young engraven his first album with legendary clarinetist Benny Goodman when the singer was eighteen. After this recording, he came to Holiday a time of great success, during which he performed with the likes of Teddy Wilson, Lester Young, with whom he produced some of his best recordings, William Count Basie and Artie Shaw.