Billie Holiday Strange Fruit

Billie Holiday recorded her iconic version of Strange Fruit on 20 April 1939. Eighty years on – in the first of our Songs that Made History series – Aida Amoako explores how a poem about lynching became a timeless call to action.

Watch Four Iconic Live Performances by Billie Holiday on Her 100th Birthday Today

Billie Holiday, who died at 44, was born on April 7, 1915, and became one of the most influential singers of all time. Jazz trumpeter Trumpeter Bill Coleman said: "Billie Holiday sounded different from any female singer that I had heard before."

 Billie Holiday’s name has been in the news lately for some reasons that remind us of the tragedies she sang about and those she endured. First, there was the story of the rather appallingly tone-deaf PR firm who thought one of Holiday’s most well-known recordings, “Strange Fruit”—a song about lynching—would make a great name for their brand. Then there were the new details in Johann Hari’s book Chasing the Scream of how Holiday was hunted, haunted, and possibly framed by Federal Bureau of Narcotics head Harry Anslinger. These stories compound the image of Holiday as a tragic figure, a casualty of societal ills and personal demons. more