Clarence Halliday (

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

, July 23, 1898 –

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, March 1, 1937), also known as Clarence Holiday, was an American musician. He was the father of the singer

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday made significant contributions to jazz music and pop ...

Early life

In Baltimore he attended a boys' school with the banjo player Elmer Snowden. Both of them played banjo with various Baltimore jazz bands, including the band of

Eubie Blake James Hubert "Eubie" Blake (February 7, 1887 – February 12, 1983) was an American pianist and composer of ragtime, jazz, and popular music. Blake began his career in 1912, and during World War I he worked in partnership with the singer, drum ...

. At the age of 16, Holiday became the unmarried father of Billie Holiday, who was born to 19-year-old Sarah Fagan (later Sadie Harris). He rarely visited Harris or her daughter. He moved from Baltimore to Philadelphia when he was 21 years old.

Career

Holiday played rhythm guitar and banjo as a member of the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra (1928–33). He also recorded with

Benny Carter Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career ...

(1934) and Bob Howard (1935) and worked with Charlie Turner (1935), Louis Metcalf (1935–36), and the

Don Redman Donald Matthew Redman (July 29, 1900 – November 30, 1964) was an American jazz musician, arranger, bandleader, and composer. Biography Redman was born in Piedmont, Mineral County, West Virginia, United States. His father was a music teacher ...

Big Band (1936–37).

Death

Holiday died in 1937. He was exposed to

mustard gas Mustard gas or sulfur mustard are names commonly used for the organosulfur compound, organosulfur chemical compound bis(2-chloroethyl) sulfide, which has the chemical structure S(CH2CH2Cl)2, as well as other Chemical species, species. In the wi ...

while serving in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Later, he fell ill with a lung disorder while on tour in Texas and was refused treatment at a local hospital. When he finally managed to get treatment, he was only allowed in the

Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation, " Jim Crow" being a pejorative term for an African American. The last of the ...

ward of the Veterans Hospital, and by then pneumonia had set in and without antibiotics, the illness was fatal. Two years later Billie Holiday recorded the song “

Strange Fruit "Strange Fruit" is a song written and composed by Abel Meeropol (under his pseudonym Lewis Allan) and recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939. The lyrics were drawn from a poem by Meeropol published in 1937. The song Protest song, protests the Lynch ...

” in her father's memory.

References

1898 births 1937 deaths American jazz guitarists 20th-century American guitarists African-American guitarists 20th-century African-American musicians Deaths from pneumonia in Texas {{US-jazz-guitarist-stub