Search
Related artists
Louis Armstrong | Ella Fitzgerald | Stan Getz | Sarah Vaughan | Nat King Cole | Dinah Washington | Chet Baker | Tony Bennett | Peggy Lee | Julie London | Etta JonesFeatures on
#1 in Classical 1952 | #1 in R&B 1954 | #1 in Jazz 1941 | #1 in Classical 1953 | #1 in Classical 2000Explore
Random artist →Genres and decades →
Through the years →
Scenes →
Movements →
Rivalries →
Breakups →
Labels →
Studios →
Alternative artwork →
User artistagraphs →
Do more
Build your own artistagraphsCompare artists
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Philadelphia, USpop, r&b, jazz, classical
11.1bn all-time streams (6 Jan '26)
The first popular jazz singer to move audiences with the intense, personal feeling of classic blues, Billie Holiday changed the art of American pop vocals forever.
More than a half-century after her death, it's difficult to believe that prior to her emergence, jazz and pop singers were tied to the Tin Pan Alley tradition and rarely personalized their songs; only blues singers like Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey actually gave the impression they had lived through what they were singing.
More than a half-century after her death, it's difficult to believe that prior to her emergence, jazz and pop singers were tied to the Tin Pan Alley tradition and rarely personalized their songs; only blues singers like Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey actually gave the impression they had lived through what they were singing.
