Becoming Billie Holay

The stunning voice and hard life of legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday is revealed through evocative, accessible poetry. In 1915, Sadie Fagan gave birth to a daughter she named Eleanora. The world, however, would know her as Billie Holiday, possibly the greatest jazz singer of all time. Eleanora's journey to become a legend took her through pain, poverty, and run-ins with the law. By the time she was fifteen, she knew she possessed something that could possibly change her life--a voice. Eleanora could sing. Her remarkable voice led her to a place in the spotlight with some of the era's hottest big bands. Through a sequence of raw and poignant poems, New York Times best-selling and award-winning poet Carole Boston Weatherford chronicles the singer's young life, her fight for survival, and the dream she pursued with passion.

• | Author: Carole Boston Weatherford
• | Publisher: WordSong
• | Publication Date: October 01, 2008
• | Number of Pages: 120 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Hardcover
• | ISBN-10: 159078507X
• | ISBN-13: 9781590785072