| Statue of Billie Holiday | |
|---|---|
 The statue in April 2018 | |
 | |
| Artist | James Earl Reid |
| Year | 1985 |
| Medium | Bronze |
| Subject | Billie Holiday |
| Location | Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
| 39°18′04.3″N76°37′55.3″W / 39.301194°N 76.632028°W Coordinates: 39°18′04.3″N76°37′55.3″W / 39.301194°N 76.632028°W | |
A statue of Billie Holiday is installed at Billie Holiday Plaza on Pennsylvania Avenue in the neighborhood of Upton in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. [1]
Plans for a memorial to Holiday in Baltimore began in 1971; a drug treatment centre and statue were envisioned, but only the statue was eventually built. The statue was part of the planned urban renewal of the surrounding area of Upton. [2] The Royal Theatre, where Holiday performed, originally stood diagonally opposite the statue. [1] Holiday was raised in Baltimore. [2]
The sculptor James Earl Reid was commissioned to design the monument to Holiday in 1977. [2] Disputes over the rising costs of the work led to Reid eventually distancing himself from the piece. Reid had also intended that the statue be placed on a 6-foot (1.8 m) pedestal. [2] It was finally unveiled in 1985, without Reid in attendance at the ceremony. [2] The sculpture cost $113,000 (equivalent to $284,703in 2021). [2] The statue of Holiday is 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) in height. [2] Holiday is depicted in a strapless evening gown wearing her signature gardenias in her braided hair. [1] The sculpture was completed in 2009 with the addition of bronze relief panels depicting events in the African-American struggle for civil rights. [1] These panels had been rejected as too controversial at the time of the statue's unveiling in 1985, and their creation had been approved with additional funding of $76,000 in 2007. [1] The statue was rededicated in 2009 with a base of granite. At its 2009 unveiling Reid said that "[Holiday] gave such a rich credibility to the experiences of black people and the black artist". [2]
One of the panels depicts a child with its umbilical cord attached, in reference to the lyrics of Holiday's song "God Bless the Child". A second panel depicts the lynching of an African-American man in reference to the 'strange fruit hanging from strange trees' in the lyrics of Holiday's signature song "Strange Fruit". [1] In reference to the Jim Crow laws, a crow is depicted eating a gardenia. It is situated behind Holiday, and above Reid's signature. [1] [3]
Billie Holiday was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. She was known for her vocal delivery and improvisational skills.
Lady Sings the Blues is a 1972 American biographical drama film directed by Sidney J. Furie about jazz singer Billie Holiday, loosely based on her 1956 autobiography which, in turn, took its title from Holiday's songs. It was produced by Motown Productions for Paramount Pictures. Diana Ross, in her feature film debut, portrayed Holiday, alongside a cast including Billy Dee Williams, Richard Pryor, James T. Callahan and Scatman Crothers. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards in 1973, including Best Actress in a Leading Role for Diana Ross.
"Strange Fruit" is a song written and composed by Abel Meeropol and recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939. The lyrics were drawn from a poem by Meeropol published in 1937. The song protests the lynching of Black Americans with lyrics that compare the victims to the fruit of trees. Such lynchings had reached a peak in the Southern United States at the turn of the 20th century and the great majority of victims were black. The song has been called "a declaration" and "the beginning of the civil rights movement".
Clarence Halliday, also known as Clarence Holiday, was an American musician. He was the father of the singer Billie Holiday.
Lady Sings the Blues is the soundtrack to the Billie Holiday biopic of the same name, which starred Diana Ross in her 1972 screen debut. It became Ross' fourth #1 album, though the only one as a solo artist. It was certified gold in the UK for sales of over 100,000 copies. It was the fourth best-selling R&B album and fifth best-selling Pop album of 1973 in the US.
"Come Rain or Come Shine" is a popular music song, with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. It was written for the Broadway musical St. Louis Woman, which opened on March 30, 1946, and closed after 113 performances.
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New York City's 843-acre (3.41 km2) Central Park is the home of many works of public art in various media, such as bronze, stone and tile. Many are sculptures in the form of busts, statues, equestrian statues, and panels carved or cast in low relief. Others are two-dimensional bronze or tile plaques. Some artworks do double-duty as fountains, or as part of fountains; some serve as memorials dedicated to a cause, to notable individuals, and in one case, to a notable animal. Most were donated by individuals or civic organizations; only a few were funded by the city.
Upton is a neighborhood in Baltimore City, Maryland, United States. The neighborhood is in the western section of the city, roughly between Fremont Avenue and McCulloh Street, extending from Dolphin Street to Bloom Street. Its principal thoroughfare is Pennsylvania Avenue.
Sandtown-Winchester is a neighborhood in West Baltimore, Maryland. Known locally as Sandtown, the community's name was derived from the trails of sand that dropped from wagons leaving town after filling up at the local sand and gravel quarry back in the days of horse-drawn wagons. It is located north of Lafayette Street, west of Fremont Avenue, south of North Avenue, and east of Monroe Street, covering an area of 72 square blocks, patrolled by the Baltimore Police Department's Western District. The community is 98.5% black.
Strange Fruit is a 1944 bestselling debut novel by American author Lillian Smith that deals with the then-forbidden and controversial theme of interracial romance. Its working title was Jordan is so Chilly, but Smith retitled it Strange Fruit prior to publication. In her 1956 autobiography, singer Billie Holiday wrote that Smith named the book after her 1939 song "Strange Fruit", which was about lynching and racism against African Americans. Smith maintained the book's title referred to the "damaged, twisted people who are the products or results of our racist culture."
Women in jazz have contributed throughout the many eras of jazz history, both as performers and as composers, songwriters and bandleaders. While women such as Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald were famous for their jazz singing, women have achieved much less recognition for their contributions as composers, bandleaders and instrumental performers. Other notable jazz women include piano player Lil Hardin Armstrong and jazz songwriters Irene Higginbotham and Dorothy Fields.
"Blood on the Leaves" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Kanye West from his sixth studio album Yeezus (2013). In the song West presents his thoughts on how fame can cause the destruction of relationships, while making comparisons of contemporary times to the lynching of African Americans in the United States during the pre-civil rights era. West delivers his vocals through an Auto-Tune processor, like on his 2008 album 808s & Heartbreak. It contains samples of both singer Nina Simone's 1965 rendition of Billie Holiday's song "Strange Fruit", and "R U Ready" by the duo TNGHT, who co-produced the track.
The history of the 1954 to 1968 American civil rights movement has been depicted and documented in film, song, theater, television, and the visual arts. These presentations add to and maintain cultural awareness and understanding of the goals, tactics, and accomplishments of the people who organized and participated in this nonviolent movement.
American singer-songwriter Michael Jackson is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century and one of the most successful and influential entertainers of all time. Often referred as the "King of Pop", his achievements helped to complete the desegregation of popular music in the United States and introduced an era of multiculturalism and integration that future generations of artists followed. His influence extended to inspiring fashion trends and raising awareness for social causes around the world.
Becoming Billie Holiday is a 2008 book of poetry for young readers by American poet and author Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Floyd Cooper, originally published by Wordsong. It won an honorary Coretta Scott King Award in 2009.
The United States vs. Billie Holiday is a 2021 American biographical drama film about singer Billie Holiday, based on the book Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs by Johann Hari. Directed by Lee Daniels, the film stars Andra Day in the titular role, along with Trevante Rhodes, Garrett Hedlund, Leslie Jordan, Miss Lawrence, Adriane Lenox, Natasha Lyonne, Rob Morgan, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Evan Ross, and Tyler James Williams.
A bronze sculpture of Elizabeth II by the Nigerian sculptor Ben Enwonwu was commissioned by the Queen on her visit to Nigeria in 1956, and she sat for Enwonwu in London in 1957. It was completed by Enwonwu in London and exhibited by him at the Royal Society of British Artists exhibition in London in November 1957. The over life-sized statue depicts the Queen seated with her hands in her lap.
James Earl Reid was an American sculptor, best known for the statue of Billie Holiday in Baltimore, Maryland, and for the sculpture Third World America that was at the center of the 1989 U.S. Supreme Court case Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid.
The Statue of Queen Victoria stands on the sea front at the bottom of Grand Avenue in Hove on the south coast of England. The statue is one of 14 by Thomas Brock and was unveiled in February 1901, the month after Queen Victoria's death. It is a grade II listed building.
