Billie Holiday Timeline

• 1915
Born Elinore Harris on April 7, at Philadelphia General Hospital, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Sarah Harris (later named Sadie Fagan). While her birth certificate names Frank DeViese as her father, she considered Clarence Holiday to be her father.
Her parents live together for a short time in Baltimore while she is a toddler, but her father is soon drafted into the service, her mother travels to Philadelphia and New York to seek work as a maid, and she is sent to live with her Aunt and grandparents.
• 1925
Moves with her mother to a house in Northern Baltimore where they rent out rooms to boarders. Her father has since left them, having taken to the road as a musician upon his return from the service.
At about the age of 10 or 11 years old, she is raped and then sent to The House of the Good Shepherd for Colored Girls, a jail-like Catholic reformatory institution, for 2 years.
• 1927
After finishing up the fifth grade in Baltimore, she joins her mother in New York and takes a job as a maid. She is soon living in Harlem and working as a prostitute at a whorehouse.
• 1930
Arrested on prostitution charges and sent to a correctional institution on New York's Welfare Island (currently known as Roosevelt Island) for almost four months. After her release she takes odd jobs waiting on tables and singing at small nightclubs before rejoining her mother in Harlem.
• 1931
Desperate for money, she applies for a job as a dancer at the Harlem jazz club Pod's and Jerry's and performs miserably but is impressive as a singer. During her stint at the club, she refuses to pick up tips using her body and is teased by the other women and nicknamed "Duchess" and "Lady". Around this time she changes her name to Billie Holiday, after her favorite actress Billie Dove and her father Clarence Holiday, a guitarist with the Fletcher Henderson band.
• 1933
At just 18 years old, she meets John Hammond when he attends one of her performances. He introduces her to prominent people in the industry - manager Joe Glaser, whom she signs with, and jazz musician and bandleader Benny Goodman, with whom she records "Your Mother's Son-in-Law" and "Riffin' the Scotch" in November. She also records a demo at Columbia Records.
• 1934
Debuts at the Apollo Theater with pianist Bobby Henderson on November 23rd. The two are romantically involved and reportedly briefly engaged, but the relationship ends as Billie's star begins to rise.
• 1935
Records with pianist Teddy Wilson and his orchestra and appears in the small film "Symphony in Black" alongside Duke Ellington. She returns to the studio later in the year to record various low-tier catalog songs.
• 1937
Records and tours with Count Basie and his orchestra and reconnects with saxophonist Lester Young, who becomes a good friend and accompanist. Young dubs her "Lady Day" and in return she nicknames him "Prez".
The following year she tours with Artie Shaw and his orchestra, becoming one of the first black females to sing with a white group.