Billie Holiday was born in Philadelphia on April 7, 1915 and died in New York on July 17, 1959 of cirrhosis of the liver. Her real name is Eleanora Holiday Fagan. Her life is just as dramatic as that of many jazzmen of the last century, in which a principle of economic poverty, dysfunctional families and the powerful talent that immortalizes them abound.

In Holiday's case, she was fathered by a mother who was only 13 years old and a bassist and jazz guitarist father who was only 15 years old. This origin made Billie a lonely girl who, at the age of 10, and after admitting she was raped, she was sent to a Catholic school. From this school Billie managed to escape and in 1927 she moved with her mother to New Jersey and then to New York where she worked as a prostitute. 

Her musical beginnings were between 1930-1932. In this period Billie Holiday sang in New York nightclubs, developing her vocal skills, stage presence and command with the public. It was during this period that the famous producer John Hammond got to know her, organizing several sessions with Benny Goodman. From this relationship and experience came her first album: Your Mother's Son-In-Law.

Her career was impregnated with numerous musical highlights: stages shared with other legendary jazzmen and a constellation of songs that showed her talent: My Last Affair (This Is), Night and Day, Everything Happens for the Best, He's Funny That Way and her mythical song Strange Fruit.

His life ended with a sustained physical deterioration, the result of substance abuse such as drugs and alcohol, of which he was dependent from a very early age, although historians record his addiction to heroin during the 40's. At the end of his life, Holiday was in trouble with the law for drug possession and was the victim of several scams related to his earnings. He died with less than a dollar in his bank accounts and $750 in cash.