Jazz Great, Billie Holiday

When the song “Strange Fruit” is mentioned, most think of Billie Holiday. Billie Holiday is considered one of the greatest jazz singers of all time; yet her life was marred, much like her famous song, by despair and violence. Perhaps it was her own heartbreaking life story that helped produce her captivating and extraordinary singing style.

• Quotes by Billie Holiday

Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Carl Van Vechten Collection.