Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday is interred in Saint Raymond's Cemetery, Bronx, New York. Berlin, King of Ragtime: Scott Joplin and His Era (ISBN 0195101081) — the most authoritative book on Joplin's life. She was arrested on her deathbed; in 1959, narcotic addiction was a crime, not an illness. Edward A. She was swindled out of her earnings and died with only $0.70 in the bank and $750 dollars on her person. It is still performed occasionally. She had no cabaret card; this kept her from working in New York City clubs for the last 12 years of her life. In 1974 Kenneth MacMillan created a ballet for the Royal Ballet, Elite Syncopations, based on tunes by Joplin, Max Morath and others.

Her final years were a tragedy. Marvin Hamlisch's adaptation of the Joplin song "The Entertainer" reached number 3 on the Billboard magazine Hot 100 music chart in 1974, and a much wider and deeper interest in ragtime in general and Joplin in particular was created. Her performance of Abel Meeropol's anti-lynching song on Commodore, "Strange Fruit", with the lyric "Southern trees bear strange fruit" gave her a place, not just in musical history, but in American history [1] (http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/strangefruit/). The second ragtime revival was prompted by the release of the movie The Sting in 1973, which despite being set in the 1930s still anachronistically featured a Joplin soundtrack and introduced new generations to his music. Her performance of "Fine and Mellow" on CBS's The Sound of Jazz program is memorable for her interplay with dear friend Lester Young - both were less than two years from death. The first was in the early 1950s when ragtime was regarded as a happy nostalgic music of a more innocent time. Several of her songs, including her signature song "God Bless the Child", George Gershwin's "I Love You Porgy" (covered exactly by Simone), and the rueful blues "Fine and Mellow" are jazz classics. After Joplin's death ragtime music experienced two bursts of popularity.

Her late recordings on Verve are as well remembered as her Commodore and Decca recordings of 20 years before. Before this, his only posthumously published piece had been "Reflection Rag", put together by Stark in 1917 from fragments of Joplin melodies in Stark's archives. They were separated at the time of her death. It had not been published in sheet-music form in Joplin's lifetime. That March 28, Billie married Louis McKay, a mafia "enforcer." McKay, like most of the men in her life, was abusive, but did try to get her off drugs. There was, however, an important find in 1971 — a piano-roll copy of the lost "Silver Swan Rag," cut sometime around 1914. She finally divorced Monroe in 1957 as she split with Guy. After Sweatman's death in 1961 the papers were last known to go into storage during a legal battle among Sweatman's heirs; their current location is not known, nor even if they still exist.

While still married to Monroe, she took up with trumpeter Joe Guy as his common law wife. However these were unfortunately few, since Joplin's music had come to be considered passé. She married trombonist Jimmy Monroe on August 25, 1941. Sweatman took care of these papers and generously shared access to them to those who enquired. Her personal life was as turbulent as the songs she sang. Joplin's musical papers, including unpublished manuscripts, were willed to Joplin's friend and the executor of his will, musician and composer Wilber Sweatman. In 1987 U2 released "Angel of Harlem", a tribute to her. Michael's Cemetery in the Astoria section of Queens.

Diana Ross played her in a movie version of her autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues. He was buried in St. Even after her death she influenced such singers as Janis Joplin and Nina Simone. His death did not make the headlines for two reasons: ragtime was quickly losing ground to jazz and the United States would enter World War I within days. This affected her voice as well, and in her later recordings youthful spirit is replaced by overtones of regret, but her impact on other artists was undeniable. Joplin died there on April 1, 1917. Holiday's success was marred by this growing dependence on drugs, alcohol, and abusive relationships. In mid-January 1917 Joplin was hospitalized at Manhattan State Hospital in New York City, and friends recounted that he would have bursts of lucidity in which he would jot down lines of music hurriedly before relapsing.

It is unclear who first introduced Holiday to the drug, but there is consensus from historians and contemporaneous sources that she began intravenous use sometime around 1940. However, the irregularities are just as likely due to the primitive technology used to record the rolls. However, it was heroin that would be her undoing. It has been claimed that the uneven nature of some of Joplin's piano rolls, such as one of the recordings of the Maple Leaf Rag mentioned above, documented the extent of Joplin's physical deterioration due to syphilis. Holiday was a dabbler in recreational drug use for most of her life, smoking marijuana, in some accounts, as early as twelve or thirteen years of age. A surviving copy of the 'Pleasant Moments' roll has not yet been discovered. Even when she was young and singing trivial pop songs, her unique tone and emotional commitment made her performances special. These are the only records of his playing we have, and are interesting for the embellishments added by Joplin to his performances.

She explained the sense of overpowering drama that featured in her songs, saying, "I've lived songs like that". Despite this, he recorded six piano rolls that year — Maple Leaf Rag (for Connorized and Uni-Record labels), Something Doing, Magnetic Rag, Ole Miss Rag, and Pleasant Moments (all for Connorized). Once before an audience, she was transformed into Lady Day with the white gardenia in her hair. He suffered later from dementia, paranoia, paralysis and other symptoms. She later worked with such legends as Lester Young, Count Basie, and Artie Shaw, breaking the color barrier along the way by becoming one of the black jazz singers of that era to perform with white musicians. Nevertheless, she was still forced to use the back entrance and forced to wait in a dark room away from the audience before appearing on stage. Joplin wanted to experiment further with compositions like Treemonisha, but by 1916 he was suffering from the effects of terminal syphilis. Shortly thereafter, Holiday began performing regularly at numerous clubs on 52nd Street in Manhattan. The score to an earlier ragtime opera by Joplin, A Guest of Honor, is lost.

The performance, with pianist (and then-lover) Bobby Henderson, did much to solidify her standing as a jazz and blues singer. It was performed only once during his lifetime, in 1915. On November 23, 1934, she performed at the Apollo Theater to glowing reviews. Joplin continued to experiment with other musical forms as well; after moving to New York City, Joplin attempted an ambitious ragtime opera, Treemonisha, which he produced himself at great personal expense. It was around this time that Holiday had her first successes as a live performer. After some months of faltering, Joplin continued writing and publishing, and in those days before recorded music was a best-selling composer based on sales of sheet music. Hammond arranged several sessions for her with Benny Goodman; her first-ever recording was "Your Mother's Son-In-Law" (1933). The first work copyrighted after Freddie's death, Bethena (1905), is a very sad, musically complex ragtime waltz.

Around 1932 she was "discovered" by record producer John Hammond at a club called Monette's (there is still some dispute among historians about who was the first to hear and publicise her, although it is generally agreed that Hammond was the first). Perhaps his dearest love, Freddie Alexander, died at age twenty just two months after they married, of complications resulting from a cold. Settling in Harlem, Holiday began singing informally in numerous clubs. Joplin had several marriages. In the rare times Billie did see him, she would shake him down for money by threatening to tell his girlfriend of the moment that she was his daughter. Maple Leaf Rag boosted Joplin to the top of the list of ragtime performers and moved ragtime into prominence as a musical form. Clarence Holiday accepted paternity, but was hardly a responsible father. It has been estimated that Joplin made $360 per year on this piece in his lifetime.

This stems from a copy of her birth certificate in Baltimore archives that lists the father as a "Frank DeViese." Some historians consider this an anomaly, probably inserted by a hospital or government worker (See Donald Clarke, Billie Holiday: Wishing on the Moon, ISBN 0306811367). Joplin received a one-cent royalty for each copy and ten free copies for his own use. There is controversy regarding her paternity. In 1899, Joplin sold his most famous piece, Maple Leaf Rag to John Stark & Son, a Sedalia, Missouri, music publisher. This preceded her move to New York with her mother sometime in the early 1930s. The other five were two songs (mentioned previously), two marches, and a waltz. A hardened and angry child, she dropped out of school at an early age and, allegedly, began working as a prostitute with her mother. Of the six, only Original Rags is a ragtime piece.

Billie was largely raised by her mother and other relatives. By 1898 Joplin had sold six pieces for the piano, most very advanced tunes that were fine musically, but not anything special. Billie Holiday's parents married when she was three, but they soon divorced. But despite all this travelling, his home base was in Sedalia, Missouri where he moved in 1894, working as a pianist in the Maple Leaf and Black 400 clubs, both social black clubs for respectable gentlemen. Her mother, Sadie Fagan, was just 13 at the time of her birth; her father Clarence Holiday, a jazz guitarist who would play for Fletcher Henderson, was 15. In 1895, Joplin was in Syracuse, New York, selling two songs, Please Say You Will and A Picture of Her Face. According to her autobiography, her house was the first on their street to have electricity. What is known is that he was part of a minstel troupe in Texarkana around 1891.

She was born in Philadelphia but grew up in the Fells Point section of Baltimore. He may have joined or formed various quartets and other musical groups and travelled around the midwest to sing. Much of Billie Holiday's childhood is clouded by conjecture and legend, some of it propagated by herself in her autobiography published in 1950. By the late 1880s Joplin had left home to start a life of his own. Born Eleanora Fagan, she had a difficult childhood which affected her life and career. This is something that would serve him well in later years, and fuel his ambition to create a "classical" form of ragtime. He would later further his musical education by attending the George Smith College in Sedalia, studying composition. Billie Holiday (April 7, 1915 - July 17, 1959), also called Lady Day is generally considered one of the greatest jazz singers of all time. Showing musical ability at an early age, the young Joplin received piano lessons for free from a German music teacher, who gave him a well-rounded knowledge of classical music form.

Donald Clarke, Billie Holiday: Wishing on the Moon. By 1882 his mother had purchased a piano. Download sample of "That Ol' Devil Called Love". After 1871 the Joplin family moved to Texarkana, Texas and Scott's mother cleaned homes so Scott could have a place to practice his music. While for many years his date of birth was thought to be November 24, 1868, new research by ragtime historian Ed Berlin has revealed that this is inaccurate. He was the second of six children.

Joplin was born near Linden, Texas to Florence Givins and Giles (sometimes listed as "Jiles") Joplin. 1867–April 1, 1917) remains the best-known ragtime musician and composer, setting the standard for the many who followed. Scott Joplin (ca. Maple Leaf Rag first section, Ogg Vorbis format, 17 seconds, 148 KB (info...).

When Your Hair Is Like the Snow (1907) lyrics by "Owen Spendthrift". Weeping Willow (1903). Wall Street Rag (1909). Treemonisha (1911).

The Sycamore (1904). Swipsey (1900) with Arthur Marshall. Sunflower Slow Drag (1901) with Scott Hayden. Sugar Cane (1908).

The Strenuous Life (1902). Stoptime Rag (1910). Something Doing (1903) with Scott Hayden. Solace (1909).

Silver Swan Rag (1971) posthumous publication. Searchlight Rag (1907). School of Ragtime (1908). Sarah Dear (1905) lyrics by Henry Jackson.

Rose Leaf Rag (1907). The Rose-bud March (1905). Reflection Rag (1917) posthumous publication. The Ragtime Dance (1906) this version was shortened and published to recoup losses from the 1902 version.

The Ragtime Dance (1902). Please Say You Will (1895). Pleasant Moments (1909). Pine Apple Rag (1908).

A Picture of Her Face (1895). Peacherine Rag (1901). Paragon Rag (1909). Palm Leaf Rag (1903).

Daniels. N. Original Rags (1899) arranged by Chas. The Nonpareil (1907).

March Majestic (1902). Maple Leaf Rag (1899). Magnetic Rag (1914). Little Black Baby (1903) lyrics by Louis Armstrong Bristol.

Lily Queen (1907) with Arthur Marshall. Leola (1905). Kismet Rag (1913) with Scott Hayden. I Am Thinking of My Pickanniny Days (1902) lyrics by Henry Jackson.

Heliotrope Bouquet (1907) with Louis Chauvin. Harmony Club Waltz (1896). Gladiolus Rag (1907). Fig Leaf Rag (1908).

Felicity Rag (1911) with Scott Hayden. The Favorite (1904). Euphonic Sounds (1909). Eugenia (1906).

The Entertainer (1902). Elite Syncopations (1902). The Easy Winners (1901). The Great Crush Collision March (1896).

Country Club (1909). Combination March (1896). Cleopha (1902). The Chrysanthemum (1904) dedicated to Freddie Alexander, Joplin's second wife.

Cascades (1904). A Breeze From Alabama (1902). Binks' Waltz (1905). Bethena (1905).

Augustan Club Waltz (1901). Antoinette (1906).