Lady Day was the first female jazz singer with a hit!
Born in 1915, Billie Holiday was the first female Jazz singer who recorded hits and became world famous.
Only Bessie Smith was born before her (1894, and she was a Blues singer). Ella Fitzgerald was born in 1917 and released her first big hit in 1938 (A-Tisket, A-Tasket).
So Billie Holiday was first out of the blocks with her single in 1934, two years later she had three massive tunes in These Foolish Things (Remind Me Of You), Summertime, and The Way You Look Tonight.
The following year, 1937 she released Pennies From Heaven, They Can’t Take That Away From Me, and Nice Work If You Can Get It.
1939 the extremely controversial Strange Fruit was released which was a miracle in segregated America.
Two years later, God Bless The Child came out, this was one of her compositions, very uncommon in those days.
Apart from the aforementioned, Billie Holiday’s legendary tunes include Blue Moon, All Of Me, April In Paris, I’ll Be Seeing You, Georgia On My Mind, and Solitude.
Her career would stretch into the late 50s when she died only a year after her album Lady In Satin was released in 1958.
Being one of the first female jazz singers, many standards have been connected with her “original” version. Her legacy is up there with a handful of other greats that came to define the genre.
In 2021, United States vs Billie Holiday was released with Andra Day playing Billie Holiday, she was nominated for an Oscar and won the Golden Globe for her performance as Lady Day.
Billie Holiday Tunes | Related Pages
All Of Me
You can learn how to play All Of Me by Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, and the original recording.
| Bbmaj7 | Bbmaj7 | D7 | D7 |
All of me, why not take all of me…
Blue Moon
You can learn how to play Blue Moon by Billie Holiday using chords, lyrics, and the original recording. Practice in three keys!
| Abmaj7 Fm7 | Bbm7 Eb7 | Abmaj7 Fm7 |
Blue moon, you saw me standing alone…
Georgia On My Mind
You can learn how to play Georgia On My Mind by Ray Charles using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, and the original recording.
| G | B7/F# B7 |
Georgia, Georgia…
Summertime
You can learn how to play Summertime by Billie Holiday using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, TAB, and the original recording.
| Bbm7 F7b9/C | Db6 F7b9/C | Bbm7 F7b9/C | Db6 F7b9/C |
Summertime and the living is easy…
Billie Holiday on the web
Artists & Bands
Behind every single tune you learn, there’s an artist or band with an entire catalogue of music, waiting to be discovered.
Find out more about these great Artists & Bands, and let their tunes guide you to success.
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was an article about Billie Holiday tunes, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.
