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Page by: Sofia Bellas
All of Me
- Billie Holiday:
The influence Holiday had on music was exceptional, her music while inspired by jazz instrumentals spanned influence even to pop music.
"If I'm going to sing like someone else, then I don't need to sing at all."
Being born into music from her father, Holiday gained much exposure and experience into the world of singing which allowed her creative outlet to flow. She was noticed at the young age of 18 by John Hammond which led to her first record. Her first hits launched in 1935, including "Miss Brown to You" and "What a Little Moonlight Can Do". It was then later in 1937 that Billie Holiday became the first black women to work with an all white orchestra. Although her talent led her far, Holiday did encounter racial issues along the way, one of which led to one of her greatest hits entitled "Strange Fruit", an idea based on a poem in which she was told by labels she could not publish because of the subject matter, but that did not stop Billie Holiday as she worked with a different publishing company to publish this song.