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Coordinates | 54°59′″N73°22′″N |
---|---|
name | Billie Holiday |
background | solo_singer |
birth name | Eleanora Fagan |
alias | Lady Day |
birth date | April 07, 1915 |
birth place | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States |
death date | July 17, 1959 |
death place | New York City, New York, U.S. |
origin | Harlem, New York, U.S. |
instrument | Vocals |
genre | Vocal jazz, jazz blues, torch songs, swing |
occupation | Singer, songwriter |
years active | 1933–1959 |
label | Brunswick, Vocalion, Okeh, Bluebird, Commodore, Capitol, Decca, Aladdin, Verve, Columbia, MGM |
associated acts | Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Lena Horne |
website | Billie Holiday Official Site }} |
Critic John Bush wrote that Holiday "changed the art of American pop vocals forever." She co-wrote only a few songs, but several of them have become jazz standards, notably "God Bless the Child", "Don't Explain", "Fine and Mellow", and "Lady Sings the Blues". She also became famous for singing "Easy Living", "Good Morning Heartache", and "Strange Fruit", a protest song which became one of her standards and was made famous with her 1939 recording.
Some historians have disputed Holiday's paternity, as a copy of her birth certificate in the Baltimore archives lists the father as "Frank DeViese". Other historians consider this an anomaly, probably inserted by a hospital or government worker. Frank DeViese lived in Philadelphia and Sadie Harris may have known him through her work.
Sadie Harris, then known as Sadie Fagan, married Philip Gough, but the marriage was over in two years. Holiday was left with Martha Miller again while her mother took further transportation jobs. Holiday frequently skipped school and her truancy resulted in her being brought before the juvenile court on January 5, 1925 when she was not yet 10. She was sent to The House of the Good Shepherd, a Catholic reform school. She was baptized there on March 19, 1925 and after nine months in care, was "paroled" on October 3, 1925 to her mother, who had opened a restaurant called the East Side Grill, where she and Holiday worked long hours. By the age of 11, the girl had dropped out of school.
Holiday's mother returned to their home on December 24, 1926, to discover a neighbor, Wilbur Rich, raping Holiday. Rich was arrested. Officials placed the girl at the House of the Good Shepherd in protective custody as a state witness in the rape case. Holiday was released in February 1927, nearly 12. Holiday and her mother wound up living with and working for a madam. During this time, Holiday first heard the records of Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith. By the end of 1928, Holiday's mother decided to try her luck in Harlem, New York and left Holiday again with Martha Miller.
Holiday took her professional pseudonym from Billie Dove, an actress she admired, and the musician Clarence Holiday, her probable father. At the outset of her career, she spelled her last name ''Halliday'', the birth-surname of her father, but eventually changed it to ''Holiday'', his performing name. The young singer teamed up with a neighbor, tenor sax player Kenneth Hollan. From 1929 to 1931, they were a team, performing at clubs such as the Grey Dawn, Pod's and Jerry's, and the Brooklyn Elks' Club. Benny Goodman recalled hearing Holiday in 1931 at The Bright Spot. As her reputation grew, Holiday played at many clubs, including Mexico's and The Alhambra Bar and Grill where Charles Linton, a vocalist who later worked with Chick Webb, first met her. It was also during this period that she connected with her father, who was playing with Fletcher Henderson's band.
By the end of 1932 at the age of 17, Billie Holiday replaced the singer Monette Moore at a club called Covan's on West 132nd Street. The producer John Hammond, who loved Monette Moore's singing and had come to hear her, first heard Holiday in early 1933. Hammond arranged for Holiday to make her recording debut, at age 18, in November 1933 with Benny Goodman, singing two songs: "Your Mother's Son-In-Law" and "Riffin' the Scotch", the latter being her first major hit. "Son-in-Law" sold 300 copies, but "Riffin' the Scotch," released on November 11, sold 5,000 copies.
Holiday returned to the studio in 1935 with Goodman and a group led by pianist Teddy Wilson. Their first collaboration included "What a Little Moonlight Can Do," and "Miss Brown To You." The record label did not favor the recording session, because producers wanted Holiday to sound more like Cleo Brown, an established jazz singer. After "What a Little Moonlight Can Do" garnered success, however, the company began considering Holiday an artist in her own right. She began recording under her own name a year later (on the 35 cent Vocalion label), producing a series of extraordinary performances with groups comprising the swing era's finest musicians. In 1935, Billie Holiday had a small role as a woman being abused by her lover in Duke Ellington's short ''Symphony in Black: A Rhapsody of Negro Life''. In her scene, she sang the song "Saddest Tale."
Holiday was signed to Brunswick Records by John Hammond to record current pop tunes with Teddy Wilson in the new "swing" style for the growing jukebox trade. They were given free rein to improvise the material. Holiday's improvisation of the melody line to fit the emotion was revolutionary. With their arrangements, Wilson and Holiday took pedestrian pop tunes, such as "Twenty-Four Hours a Day" (#6 Pop) or "Yankee Doodle Never Went To Town", and turned them into jazz classics. Most of Holiday's recordings with Wilson or under her own name during the 1930s and early 1940s are regarded as important parts of the jazz vocal library. She was then in her early to late 20s.
Another frequent accompanist was the tenor saxophonist Lester Young, who had been a boarder at her mother's house in 1934 and with whom Holiday had a special rapport. He said,
"Well, I think you can hear that on some of the old records, you know. Some time I'd sit down and listen to 'em myself, and it sound like two of the same voices, if you don't be careful, you know, or the same mind, or something like that."Young nicknamed her "Lady Day", and she, in turn, dubbed him "Prez". She did a three-month residency at Clark Monroe's Uptown House in New York in 1937. In the late 1930s, Holiday had brief stints as a big band vocalist with Count Basie (1937) and Artie Shaw (1938). The latter association placed her among the first black women to work with a white orchestra, an unusual arrangement for the times.
By the late 1930s, Billie Holiday had toured with Count Basie and Artie Shaw, scored a string of radio and retail hits with Teddy Wilson, and became an established artist in the recording industry. Her songs "What A Little Moonlight Can Do" and "Easy Living" were being imitated by singers across America and were quickly becoming jazz standards. In 1938, Holiday's single "I'm Gonna Lock My Heart" ranked 6th as the most-played song for September of that year. Her record label Vocalion listed the single as its fourth best seller for the same month. "I'm Gonna Lock My Heart" peaked at number 2 on the pop charts according to Joel Whitburn's "Pop Memories: 1890-1954" book.
When Holiday's producers at Columbia found the subject matter too sensitive, Milt Gabler agreed to record it for his Commodore Records. That was done on April 20, 1939, and "Strange Fruit" remained in her repertoire for twenty years. She later recorded it again for Verve. While the Commodore release did not get any airplay, the controversial song sold well, though Gabler attributed that mostly to the record's other side, "Fine and Mellow", which was a jukebox hit. "The version I did for Commodore," Holiday said of "Strange Fruit", "became my biggest selling record." "Strange Fruit" was the equivalent of a top twenty hit in the 1930s.
For her performance of "Strange Fruit" at the Café Society, she had waiters silence the crowd when the song began. During the song's long introduction, the lights dimmed and all movement had to cease. As Holiday began singing, only a small spotlight of light illuminated her face. On the final note, all lights in the club went out and when they came back on, Holiday was gone.
Holiday said her father Clarence Holiday was denied treatment for a fatal lung disorder because of prejudice and that singing "Strange Fruit" reminded her of the incident. "It reminds me of how pop died, but I have to keep singing it, not only because people ask for it, but because twenty years after Pop died the things that killed him are still happening in the south," she said in her autobiography.
Holiday's popularity increased after recording "Strange Fruit". She received a mention in ''Time'' magazine. "I open Café Society as an unknown," Holiday said. "I left two years later as a star. I needed the prestige and publicity all right, but you can't pay rent with it." Holiday demanded her manager Joe Glaser give her a raise shortly after.
Holiday soon returned Commodore in 1944, recording songs she made with Teddy Wilson in the 1930s like "I Cover The Waterfront", "I'll Get By", and "He's Funny That Way". She also recorded new songs that were popular at the time, including, "My Old Flame", "How Am I To Know?", "I'm Yours", and "I'll Be Seeing You", a Bing Crosby number one hit. She also recorded her version of "Embraceable You", which would later be inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2005.
During her time at Commodore, Billie Holiday also babysat the young Billy Crystal; his father being Jack Crystal and uncle being Milt Gabler, the co-founders of Commodore Records.
"God Bless the Child" became Holiday's most popular and covered record. It reached number 25 on the record charts in 1941 and ranked third in Billboard's top songs of the year, selling over a million records. In 1976, the song was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame. Herzog later claimed that Holiday contributed little to the lyrics of her music, adding only a few lines. He also stated that Holiday came up with the line "God Bless the Child" from a dinner conversation the two had.
On June 24, 1942, Holiday recorded "Trav'lin Light" with Paul Whiteman. Because she was still under contract with Columbia records, she couldn't release the song under her own name and instead used the pseudonym "Lady Day." The song was a minor success on the pop charts, reaching number 23, but hit number one on the R&B; charts, which were called the Harlem Hit Parade at the time.
In September 1943, ''Life'' magazine complimented Holiday on her work. They wrote, "she has the most distinct style of any popular vocalist and is imitated by other vocalists."
Milt Gabler eventually became an A&R; man for Decca Records, in addition to owning Commodore Records, and he signed Holiday to the label on August 7, 1944, when Holiday was 29. Her first recording for Decca was "Lover Man" (#16 Pop, #5 R&B;), one of her biggest hits. The success and wide distribution of the song made Holiday a staple in the pop community, allowing her to have her own solo concerts, a rarity for jazz singers in the late 40s. Gabler commented on the song's success, saying, "I made Billie a real pop singer. That was right in her. Billie loved those songs." Jimmy Davis and Roger "Ram" Ramirez, "Lover Man"'s songwriters, tried to get Holiday interested in recording the song in 1941, but she didn't take interest. In 1943, a flamboyant male torch singer by the name of Willie Dukes began singing "Lover Man" on 52nd Street. Because of Duke's success with the song, Holiday decided to add it to her live shows. The song's B-side is "No More", a song Holiday considered one of her favorites.
When it came time to record the song, Holiday begged Gabler for strings, which were associated with big name acts like Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, to accompany her in the background. "I went on my knees to him," Holiday said. "I didn't want to do it with the ordinary six pieces. I begged Milt and told him I had to have strings behind me." On October 4, 1944, Holiday walked into the recording studio to record "Lover Man" and saw the string ensemble and walked out. The musical director for the session, Toots Camarata said she was overwhelmed with joy. Another reason for Holiday wanting to use strings may have been to dodge the comparisons made between her commercially successful early work with Teddy Wilson and everything produced afterward. Her 1930s sides with Wilson used a small jazz combo. Her recordings with Decca often involved string ensembles and presented her voice in a new light.
A month later, in November, Billie Holiday returned to the Decca studio to record three songs, "That Ole Devil Called Love", "Big Stuff", and "Don't Explain". Holiday wrote "Don't Explain" after she caught her husband, Jimmy Monroe, with lipstick on his collar.
After the recording session, Holiday did not return to the studio until August 1945. She recorded "Don't Explain", "Big Stuff", "What Is This Thing Called Love?", and "You Better Go Now". Ella Fitzgerald declared "You Better Go Now" as her favorite Billie Holiday recording. "Big Stuff" and "Don't Explain" were recorded again but with additional strings and a viola.
In 1946, Holiday recorded one of her most covered and critically acclaimed songs, "Good Morning Heartache". Although the song failed to chart, it remained a staple in her live shows with three known live recordings of the song.
In September 1946, Holiday began work on what would be her only major film ''New Orleans''. She starred opposite Louis Armstrong and Woody Herman. Plagued by racism and McCarthyism, producer Jules Levey and script writer Herbert Biberman were pressured to lessen Holiday and Armstrong's role in the film as to not give the impression that black people created jazz. Their attempts failed because in 1947 Biberman was listed as one of the Hollywood Ten and sent to jail.
Holiday was not pleased that her role was reduced to that of a maid: "I thought I was going to play myself in it," she said. "I thought I was going to be Billie Holiday doing a couple of songs in a nightclub setting and that would be that. I should have known better. When I saw the script, I did." Before filming, Holiday was assigned a dramatic coach who coached her on how to properly say "Miss Marylee", the lead character's name. "So this coach was trying to get the right kind of tom feeling into this thing," Holiday said. At one point, after feeling cornered and unable to walk off the set, she burst out into tears. Louis Armstrong tried comforting her. "Better look out," he said. "I know Lady, and when she starts crying, the next thing she's going to do is start fighting." Several scenes were deleted from the film. "They had taken miles of footage of music and scenes," Holiday said, "[and] none of it was left in the picture. And very damn little of me. I know I wore a white dress for a number I did... and that was cut out of the picture." She recorded the track "The Blues Are Brewin'", for the film's soundtrack. Other songs included in the movie are "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?" and "Farewell to Storyville".
Holiday's drug addictions were a growing problem on the set. She earned more than a thousand dollars a week from her club ventures at the time, but spent most of it on heroin. Her lover Joe Guy traveled to Hollywood while Holiday was filming and supplied her with drugs. When discovered by Joe Glaser, Holiday's manager, Guy was banned from the set.
By the late 1940s, Holiday had begun recording a number of slow, sentimental ballads. The magazine ''Metronome'' expressed its concerns in 1946 about "Good Morning Heartache," saying "there's a danger that Billie's present formula will wear thin, but up to now it's wearing well."
On May 16, 1947, Holiday was arrested for the possession of narcotics in her New York apartment. On May 27, 1947, she was in court. "It was called 'The United States of America versus Billie Holiday'. And that's just the way it felt," Holiday recalled. During the trial, Holiday received notice that her lawyer was not interested in coming down to the trial and representing her. "In plain English that meant no one in the world was interested in looking out for me," Holiday said. Dehydrated and unable to hold down any food, she pled guilty and asked to be sent to the hospital. The D.A. spoke up in her defense, saying, "If your honor please, this is a case of a drug addict, but more serious, however, than most of our cases, Miss Holiday is a professional entertainer and among the higher rank as far as income was concerned." By 1947, Holiday was at her commercial peak, having made a quarter of a million dollars in the three years prior. Holiday placed second in the ''Down Beat'' poll for 1946 and 1947, her highest ranking in the poll. In ''Billboard'''s July 6 issue on 1947, Holiday ranked 5 on its annual college poll of "girl singers". Jo Stafford topped the poll. In 1946, Holiday won the ''Metronome Magazine'' popularity poll.
At the end of the trial, Holiday was sentenced to Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia, more popularly known as "Camp Cupcake". Other notable celebrities to serve time at Alderson are Martha Stewart, Sara Jane Moore (who tried to assassinate President Ford), and Lynette (Squeaky) Fromme of the Charles Manson family of murderers.
Luckily for Holiday, she was released early (March 16, 1948) because of good behavior. When she arrived at Newark, her pianist Bobby Tucker and her dog Mister were waiting for her. The dog leaped at Holiday, knocking off her hat, and tackled her to the ground. "He began lapping me and loving me like crazy," she said. A woman overheard the commotion and thought the dog was attacking Holiday. She started screaming and soon a crowd gathered and then the press showed up. "I might just as well have wheeled into Penn Station and had a quiet little get-together with the Associated Press, United Press, and International News Service," Holiday said.
Ed Fishman (who fought with Joe Glaser to be Holiday's manager) thought of the idea to throw a comeback concert at Carnegie Hall. Holiday hesitated, unsure whether audiences were ready to accept her after the arrest. She eventually gave in, and agreed to the concert.
On March 27, 1948, Holiday played Carnegie Hall to a sold-out crowd. There were 2,700 tickets sold in advance, a record at the time for the venue. Her popularity at the time was unusual in that she didn't have a current hit record. Holiday's last song to chart was "Lover Man" in 1945, which would be her final placement on the record charts during her lifetime. Holiday did 32 songs at the Carnegie concert by her count, some of which included Cole Porter's "Night and Day" and her 30s hit "Strange Fruit". During the show, someone sent Holiday a box of gardenias. "My old trademark," Holiday said. "I took them out of box and fastened them smack to the side of my head without even looking twice." There was a hatpin in the gardenias and Holiday, unknowingly, stuck the needle deep into the side of her head. "I didn't feel anything until the blood started rushing down in my eyes and ears," she said. After the third curtain call, Holiday passed out.
On April 27, 1948, Bob Sylvester and her promoter Al Wilde arranged for Billie Holiday to do a Broadway show. Titled ''Holiday on Broadway'', it sold out and was a success for a while. "The regular music critics and drama critics came and treated us like we were legit," Holiday said. Despite the success, the show closed after three weeks.
Holiday was arrested again on January 22, 1949, inside her room at San Francisco's Hotel Mark Twain.
Holiday stated that she began using hard drugs in the early 1940s. She married trombonist Jimmy Monroe on August 25, 1941. While still married to Monroe, she became romantically involved with trumpeter Joe Guy, who was also her drug dealer, and eventually became his common-law wife. She finally divorced Monroe in 1947 and also split with Guy.
In October 1949, Holiday recorded "Crazy He Calls Me", which was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2010. Gabler said the song was a hit, likely making it her most successful recording for Decca after "Lover Man". The record charts of the 1940s did not list songs outside the top 30, making it impossible to recognize minor pop hits. Also, by the late 1940s, despite her popularity and concert drawing power, Holiday's singles received little radio airplay. This may have been because of the bad reputation she had up to that point.
Because of her 1947 conviction, Holiday's New York City Cabaret Card was revoked, which kept her from working anywhere that sold alcohol for the remaining 12 years of her life.
The Cabaret system started in 1940 and was designed to prevent people of "bad character" from working on licensed premises. A performer had to renew his or her license every two years. This system lasted until 1967. Clubs that sold alcohol in New York were among the highest paying venues in the country. Club owners knew blacklisted performers had limited work options, so they would offer them a smaller salary. This greatly reduced Holiday's earning power. She hadn't been receiving proper royalties for her work until she signed with Decca, so her main source of revenue were her club concerts. The problem worsened when Holiday's records went out of print in the 1950s. She seldom received any money from royalties in her latter years. For instance, in 1958 Holiday received a royalty check of only 11 dollars. Also, Holiday's lawyer during the late 1950s, Earle Warren Zaidins, failed to register with BMI on all but two songs she had written or co-written, costing her potential revenue.
In 1948, Holiday played at the Ebony Club, which, because she lost her cabaret card, was against the law. Her manager at the time, John Levy, was convinced he could get her card back and allowed her to open without one. "I opened scared," Holiday said, "[I was] expecting the cops to come in any chorus and carry me off. But nothing happened. I was a huge success."
Also in 1948, Holiday recorded Gershwin's "I Loves You Porgy". The single was heard by up and coming act Nina Simone. Simone covered the tune 1958, and it ended up becoming her sole top 40 hit in America.
In 1950, Holiday appeared in the Universal-International short film '''Sugar Chile' Robinson, Billie Holiday, Count Basie and His Sextet'', where she sang "God Bless the Child" and "Now, Baby or Never".
On March 28, 1957, Holiday married Louis McKay, a Mafia enforcer, who like most of the men in her life was abusive, but he did try to get her off drugs. They were separated at the time of her death, but McKay had plans to start a chain of Billie Holiday vocal studios, à la Arthur Murray dance schools.
Holiday's late recordings on Verve constitute about a third of her commercial recorded legacy and are as popular as her earlier work for the Columbia, Commodore and Decca labels. In later years, her voice became more fragile, but it never lost the edge that had always made it so distinctive.
Holiday's autobiography, ''Lady Sings the Blues'', was ghostwritten by William Dufty and published in 1956. Dufty, a ''New York Post'' writer and editor then married to Holiday's close friend Maely Dufty, wrote the book quickly from a series of conversations with the singer in the Duftys' 93rd Street apartment. He drew on the work of earlier interviewers as well and intended to let Holiday tell her story in her own way.
To accompany her autobiography, Holiday released an LP in June 1956 titled ''Lady Sings the Blues''. The album did not have any new material other than the title track, "Too Marvelous For Words", "Willow Weep for Me", and "I Thought About You", but had new recordings of Holiday's biggest hits. These included "Trav'lin' Light" "Strange Fruit" and "God Bless the Child". On December 22, 1956, ''Billboard'' magazine reviewed ''Lady Sings the Blues'', calling it a worthy musical complement to her autobiography. "Holiday is in good voice now," said the reviewer, "and these new readings will be much appreciated by her following." "Strange Fruit" and "God Bless the Child" were called classics, and "Good Morning Heartache", another reissued track in the LP, was also noted positively.
On November 10, 1956, Holiday performed two concerts before packed audiences at Carnegie Hall, a major accomplishment for any artist, especially a black artist of the segregated period of American history. Live recordings of the second Carnegie Hall concert were released on a Verve/HMV album in the UK in late 1961 called ''The Essential Billie Holiday''. The thirteen tracks included on this album featured her own songs, "I Love My Man", "Don't Explain" and "Fine And Mellow", together with other songs closely associated with her, including "Body and Soul", "My Man", and "Lady Sings the Blues" (her lyrics accompanied a tune by pianist Herbie Nichols).
The liner notes on this album were written partly by Gilbert Millstein of ''The New York Times'', who, according to these notes, served as narrator in the Carnegie Hall concerts. Interspersed among Holiday's songs, Millstein read aloud four lengthy passages from her autobiography ''Lady Sings The Blues''. He later wrote:
Millstein continued:
The critic Nat Hentoff of ''Down Beat'' magazine, who attended the Carnegie Hall concert, wrote the remainder of the sleeve notes on the 1961 album. He wrote of Holiday's performance:
Hentoff continued:
Her performance of "Fine and Mellow" on CBS's ''The Sound of Jazz'' program is memorable for her interplay with her long-time friend Lester Young. Both were less than two years from death.
Holiday first toured Europe in 1954 as part of a Leonard Feather package that also included Buddy DeFranco and Red Norvo. When she returned almost five years later, she made one of her last television appearances for Granada's ''Chelsea at Nine'' in London. Her final studio recordings were made for MGM in 1959, with lush backing from Ray Ellis and his Orchestra, who had also accompanied her on Columbia's ''Lady in Satin'' album the previous year—see below. The MGM sessions were released posthumously on a self-titled album, later re-titled and re-released as ''Last Recordings''.
Although childless, Billie Holiday had two godchildren: singer Billie Lorraine Feather, daughter of Leonard Feather, and Bevan Dufty, son of William Dufty.
Gilbert Millstein of ''The New York Times'', who had been the narrator at Billie Holiday's 1956 Carnegie Hall concerts and had partly written the sleeve notes for the album ''The Essential Billie Holiday'' (see above), described her death in these same 1961-dated sleeve notes:
Frank Sinatra admired Holiday, having been influenced by her performances on 52nd Street as a young man. He told ''Ebony'' magazine in 1958 about her impact:
Billie Holiday began her recording career on a high note with her first major release "Riffin' the Scotch" selling 5,000 copies. The song was released under the band name "Benny Goodman & his Orchestra." accompanied Holiday more than any other musician. He and Holiday have 95 recordings together.
In July 1936, Holiday began releasing sides under her own name. These songs were released under the band name "Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra." Most noteworthy, the popular jazz standard "Summertime," sold well and was listed on the available pop charts at the time at number 12, the first time the jazz standard charted under any artist. Only Billy Stewart's R&B; version of "Summertime" reached a higher chart placement than Holiday's, charting at number 10 thirty years later in 1966.
Holiday had 16 best selling songs in 1937, making the year her most commercially successful. It was in this year that Holiday scored her sole number one hit as a featured vocalist on the available pop charts of the 1930s, "Carelessly". The hit "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm", was also recorded by Ray Noble, Glen Gray and Fred Astaire whose rendering was a best seller for weeks. Holiday's version ranked 6 on the year-end single chart available for 1937.
In 1939, Holiday recorded her biggest selling record, "Strange Fruit" for Commodore, charting at number 16 on the available pop charts for the 1930s.
In 1940, ''Billboard'' began publishing its modern pop charts, which included the Best Selling Retail Records chart, the precursor to the Hot 100. None of Holiday's songs placed on the modern pop charts, partly because ''Billboard'' only published the first ten slots of the charts in some issues. Minor hits and independent releases had no way of being spotlighted.
"God Bless the Child", which went on to sell over a million copies, ranked number 3 on Billboard's year-end top songs of 1941.
On October 24, 1942, Billboard began issuing its R&B; charts. Two of Holiday's songs placed on the chart, "Trav'lin' Light" with Paul Whiteman, which topped the chart, and "Lover Man", which reached number 5.
"Trav'lin' Light" also reached 18 on Billboard's year-end chart.
Year | Single | Chart positions | ||||
! style="width:40px;" | ! style="width:40px;" | |||||
1934 | 6 | |||||
12 | ||||||
6 | ||||||
12 | ||||||
18 | ||||||
5 | ||||||
17 | ||||||
9 | ||||||
12 | ||||||
9 | ||||||
18 | ||||||
3 | ||||||
4 | ||||||
20 | ||||||
5 | ||||||
3 | ||||||
4 | ||||||
13 | ||||||
8 | ||||||
1 | ||||||
12 | ||||||
11 | ||||||
12 | ||||||
7 | ||||||
15 | ||||||
16 | ||||||
11 | ||||||
10 | ||||||
10 | ||||||
18 | ||||||
14 | ||||||
12 | ||||||
20 | ||||||
2 | ||||||
1939 | 16 | |||||
1941 | 25 | |||||
1942 | 23 | 1 | ||||
1945 | 16 | 5 |
Never Recorded:
{| class=wikitable |- | colspan="6" style="text-align:center;"| Billie Holiday: Grammy Hall of Fame Awards |- ! Year Recorded ! Title ! Genre ! Label ! Year Inducted ! Notes |- align=center | 1949 | "Crazy He Calls Me" | Jazz (single) | Decca | 2010 | |- align=center | 1944 | "Embraceable You" | Jazz (single) | Commodore | 2005 | |- align=center | 1958 | ''Lady in Satin'' | Jazz (album) | Columbia | 2000 | |- align=center | 1945 | "Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)" | Jazz (single) | Decca | 1989 | |- align=center | 1939 | "Strange Fruit" | Jazz (single) | Commodore | 1978 | Listed also in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress in 2002 |- align=center | 1941 | "God Bless the Child" | Jazz (single) | Okeh | 1976 | |}
{| class=wikitable |- ! Year ! Title ! Label ! Result |- align=center | 2002 | ''Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday'' | Columbia 1933–1944 | Winner |- align=center | 1994 | ''The Complete Billie Holiday'' | Verve 1945–1959 | Winner |- align=center | 1992 | ''Billie Holiday — The Complete Decca Recordings'' | Verve 1944–1950 | Winner |- align=center | 1980 | ''Billie Holiday — Giants of Jazz'' | Time-Life | Winner |}
Over the years, there have been many tributes to Billie Holiday, including "The Day Lady Died," a 1959 poem by Frank O'Hara.
(1) = Available on Audio (2) = Available on DVD
Category:Article Feedback Pilot Category:1915 births Category:1959 deaths Category:African American female singers Category:African American singer-songwriters Category:Alcohol-related deaths in New York Category:American buskers Category:American jazz singers Category:Blues Hall of Fame inductees Category:Classic female blues singers Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Deaths from cirrhosis Category:Decca Records artists Category:English-language singers Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Musicians from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Category:Musicians from Baltimore, Maryland Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Swing singers Category:Torch singers Category:Traditional pop music singers Category:Vocalion Records artists Category:Women in jazz
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Coordinates | 54°59′″N73°22′″N |
---|---|
name | Pete Doherty |
background | solo_singer |
birth date | March 12, 1979 |
birth place | Hexham, Northumberland England |
origin | London, England |
genre | Indie rockpost-punk revivalgarage rock revival |
occupation | Musician, songwriter, writer |
instrument | Vocals, guitar, bass guitar, harmonica, melodica, piano, organ |
years active | 1997–present |
associated acts | The LibertinesBabyshambles |
notable instruments | Epiphone CoronetGibson SGGibson ES-125Epiphone Casino }} |
After his A-levels, he moved to his grandmother's flat in London – where he said he felt 'destined' to be—and got a job filling graves in Willesden Cemetery, although most of his time was spent reading and writing while sitting on gravestones. In a clip later made famous by YouTube, an eighteen-year old Doherty can be seen in an interview with MTV, on the day of the release of Oasis' ''Be Here Now'' album. He attended Queen Mary, part of the University of London, to study English literature, but left the course after his first year. After leaving university, he moved into a London flat with friend and fellow musician Carl Barât, who had been a classmate of Doherty's older sister at Brunel University.
The group achieved critical and commercial success and gained a dedicated cult following, with Doherty in particular being praised by fans and critics alike as one of the most promising songwriters to emerge on the British music scene for some time. However, Doherty's increasing drug problems led to his estrangement from the band. In 2003, he was jailed for burgling Barât's flat.
The two initially fell out over this incident, but made amends whilst Doherty was in prison. He was originally sentenced to 6 months, but his sentence was cut to 2 months. Upon his release, Doherty immediately reunited with Barât and the rest of the band to play a gig in the Tap 'n' Tin pub in Chatham, Kent.
Following his rejoining of the band, Doherty sought treatment for his drug addiction. He attended the alternative detox centre Wat Tham Krabok, a temple in Thailand, famous for its rehabilitation program for crack and heroin users. He left after three days and returned to England. As a consequence of this, The Libertines cancelled appearances that they were due to make at the Isle of Wight and Glastonbury festivals.
However, while post-production work was taking place on the second Libertines album in June 2004, Doherty was again asked to leave the band. The band cited Doherty's continuing drug addiction as the reason for his dismissal, but emphasised their willingness to take him back once he had addressed his addiction. Although Barât had previously stated that the Libertines were merely on hiatus, pending Doherty's recovery, the group effectively disbanded with Doherty's departure at the end of 2004. The remaining members became involved in other projects (see Yeti and Dirty Pretty Things).
On 12 April 2007, Pete Doherty and Carl Barât played 13 songs together at the second of Doherty's "An Evening with Pete Doherty" gigs at the Hackney Empire, London.
In 2010 The Libertines reformed for appearances at the Reading and Leeds Festivals. They performed on 27 August at Leeds Festival and on 28 August at Reading Festival. The festival appearances were preluded by two gigs at the HMV Forum on 24 and 25 August.
Later in 2004, Doherty provided guest vocals to the song "Down to the Underground" by the British group Client. The song was released in June 2004 as a B-side to the group's single "In It for the Money" and appears on their second album ''City''.
In 2005 Doherty collaborated with the British rock band Littl'ans on the single "Their Way".
In 2006, Doherty was featured on the charity single "Janie Jones", which was released to raise funds for Strummerville. A number of artists and bands, such as Dirty Pretty Things, We Are Scientists, The Kooks and The Holloways, also featured on the track.
In August 2006 it was announced that Doherty was recording with The Streets frontman Mike Skinner on a new version of "Prangin' Out", from Skinner's album ''The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living''.
The line-up of the band has changed several times: drummer Gemma Clarke left the band due to Doherty's drug problems and was replaced by Adam Ficek, and guitarist and co-songwriter Patrick Walden has also left the band and was replaced by Mick Whitnall.
In August 2006, Babyshambles signed up with major record label Parlophone, on which they released ''The Blinding EP'' on 9 December 2006. In January 2007, they signed a long term record deal with Parlophone.
In November 2007 Babyshambles played their first arena tour, taking in dates at the MEN Arena in Manchester, the Nottingham Arena, Bournemouth International Centre, London's Wembley Arena and Birmingham's National Indoor Arena.
On 13 January 2009, NME.COM announced that Doherty's solo album, entitled ''Grace/Wastelands'' would be released on 16 March, preceded by a single, "Last of the English Roses", on 9 March. The website also revealed the tracklisting of the album and credits. In 2009 Doherty was made an honorary patron of the University Philosophical Society.
Whilst performing a solo gig at the Grimsby Auditorium in March 2009, Doherty declared Grimsby a "shit-hole" mid-way through his set after being continuously pelted with coins and drinks by a harsh crowd.
On 15 May 2007, Doherty exhibited his paintings for the first time. The art exhibition took place at the London's Bankrobber Gallery, and was on show for one month. The collection featured 14 paintings.
An exhibition of Doherty's paintings titled, "Art of the Albion", took place at the Gallerie Chappe in Paris from 25 April to 25 May 2008. The exhibit caused controversy due to artworks made with Doherty's own blood. According to newspapers, anti-drug campaigners were enraged and accused Doherty of glamourising illegal substance abuse. Art experts were similarly unimpressed. David West, the owner of London's Decima gallery, for example, slammed his work: "It's not got any artistic merit. He's using his blood to make them interesting, but when you look at them they're what any four-year-old can do."
Doherty has also supported up-and-coming British bands, such as indie bands The Paddingtons and The View.
Doherty is also known to be a devoted follower of Queens Park Rangers football club. As a youth he wrote a fanzine, entitled "All Quiet on the Western Avenue". He sold copies of the fanzine on the club's grounds, but its mixture of literary references, quotes, poetry and football stories proved unsuccessful with the other fans.
A frequent lyrical theme for Doherty is Albion, the ancient name for Great Britain. Doherty also uses 'Albion' as the name of a ship sailing to a utopia called Arcadia, a place without rules or authority. Doherty and Barât shared a flat in London, at 112a Teesdale Street, Bethnal Green, affectionately known as 'The Albion Rooms', despite being rather run down. Doherty named his diaries, in which he writes poems and other thoughts, the ''Books of Albion''.
In 2003, while Doherty's first band The Libertines was performing in Japan without him, he broke into Carl Barât's flat and stole various items, including an old guitar and a laptop computer. On 7 September Doherty was sentenced by Judge Roger Davies to 6 months in prison, however the sentence was eventually shortened to two months on appeal with the judge commenting, "We feel that a custodial sentence was justified in this case but sufficient credit was not given for his timely plea of guilty which it should have been. We have reduced his sentence to two months which will allow for his almost immediate release." Doherty was released from jail on 8 October 2003.
On 2 February 2005, Doherty was arrested after an altercation with documentary filmmaker Max Carlish, who was making a rockumentary about the singer and sold photos of a heroin smoking Doherty to the tabloids. Doherty and his friend Alan Wass had been charged with robbery and blackmail. On 7 February Doherty was released on bail after his record company Rough Trade put up £150,000 in bonds. All charges against him were later dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service due to a lack of evidence.
In late 2007, a photo was published in several newspapers of Doherty allegedly forcing his pet cat to inhale from a crack pipe.
On 8 April 2008, Doherty was jailed for 14 weeks by a court for breaching a probation order after a string of brushes with the law for drugs and driving offenses. On 18 April 2008, he was moved to a private area of Wormwood Scrubs prison after learning that fellow inmates were planning to attack him, therefore making it safer for the singer. On 6 May 2008, he was released after his sentence was cut in half and further 18 days were remitted due to a government plan to reduce overcrowding. He also had another 2 days off for being in police custody (after serving just over 4 weeks of a 14-week sentence). He described prison life as "a lot of gangsters and Radio 4" and showed a certificate confirming he had passed a drugs test while inside.
Doherty made another attempt to fight his drug addiction in September 2007, when he underwent rehab for six weeks at Clouds House. However, Doherty relapsed in November 2007 following his appearance at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2007 in Munich. In September 2008 Andy Boyd, Doherty's manager, claimed in an interview with the ''Daily Mail'' that Doherty did not get off heroin. Boyd stated: "The only time I can be sure he’s not doing heroin or crack is when he’s in rehab or prison or asleep" and implied that when Doherty had an implant fitted, which blocks the body’s opiate receptors, he replaced heroin with another drug.
In June 2009, Doherty was arrested in Gloucester and charged with driving dangerously, while drunk, and being in possession of heroin. He was released on a £50,000 bail and after 'guilty' pleas were entered, was asked to return to court on 21 December for sentencing. On this date, Doherty was spared jail but was ordered to pay £2,050 in fines, and was banned from driving for 18 months, despite the court hearing Doherty had 21 previous drug offences and six motoring offences. Following his release from court, he was escorted by officers to the nearest police station and re-arrested for possession of a controlled substance, later revealed to be heroin. The following day, 22 December, it emerged that Doherty could be charged with offences linked to a hit-and-run incident, which left a pedestrian in a critical condition. Doherty's manager, Andrew Boyd, has already appeared in court charged with a number of offences relating to the incident. Whilst Doherty was in Gloucester court on 21 December, heroin fell out of his coat pocket. He was arrested for possession and was convicted for this offence at the same court on 27 January 2010. He was fined £750 and ordered to pay £85 court costs. On 11 March 2010, Lowestoft magistrates fined Doherty £500 and banned him from driving for 12 months for allowing his Daimler car to be used uninsured by his manager.
On 19 March 2010, Doherty was arrested on suspicion of supplying controlled drugs. He was reported to be bail until April 2010.
In June 2010 Doherty was, after spending 10 hours in detention in JFK Airport, refused entry into the United States - despite having a visa.
On 18 October 2010, Doherty was summoned to court under the charge of cocaine possession. In March 2011 he pleaded guilty to possession, he was granted unconditional bail until sentencing on 20 May. On 20 May, Doherty was sentenced to 6 months in jail for possession of cocaine, following the inquiry into the death of Robin Whitehead.
After numerous attempts to convince him to start a serious rehab, in early 2005 Doherty's father decided that he was tired of broken promises and vowed never to see his son until he was clean of drugs. The sensitivity surrounding the issue became apparent in the BBC Two ''Arena'' documentary about Doherty, on 12 November 2006, which included footage of him talking about this aspect of his personal life. He was visibly upset and had to politely ask the interviewer at one point to stop filming. In October 2007, Doherty said in an interview with BBC Radio 4 show, ''Front Row'', that he briefly reconciled with his father after 3 years of no contact when his father came to visit him in rehab, but they are currently estranged due to his ongoing difficulties with drugs. In a radio interview in France on 6 July 2009, Doherty stated that 'I'm clean – the last 11 days I've been clean for the first time in quite a long time.' Doherty also stated that 'as we speak' work has begun on the third Babyshambles album, stating that he was keen to begin writing while he was clean, however he displayed some anxiety at writing music while clean due to the fact many of his songs have been written under the influence of drugs.
Doherty has had a tumultuous relationship with Kate Moss, frequently covered by the press. They met in January 2005 at Moss' 31st birthday party and have had an on-off relationship since. Moss has also taken to singing at some of Doherty's shows. On 11 April 2007, Doherty announced Moss as his fiancée during the first of his solo gigs at the Hackney Empire, London, at which Moss also performed. Doherty planned to marry Moss during the summer 2007. Since July 2007, Moss and Doherty have broken up.
In October 2007, Doherty was briefly engaged to fashion model Irina Lazareanu.
Doherty has a son named Astile Louis Doherty (born Camden, London, 12 July 2003) with singer Lisa Moorish. Doherty did not have much contact with his son until 2008. In an interview with the ''Daily Mail'', Doherty said that he intentionally kept away from Astile because of the state he felt himself to be in. However, he stated that their relationship has become a closer one since then.
In July 2008, ''Rolling Stone'' reporter Claire Hoffman asked Amy Winehouse about her relationship with Doherty. Winehouse replied: "We're just good friends", and added: "I asked Pete to do a concept EP, and he made this face, he looked at me like I'd pooed on the floor. He wouldn't do it. We're just really close".
Doherty currently lives in a nine-bedroomed red-brick Georgian house on the outskirts of Marlborough, Wiltshire - the house is leased from Lord Cardigan. Doherty chose Wiltshire to seek 'peace and quiet', and also because his probation order does not allow him to live in a residence with a London postcode. Doherty was rumoured to be facing eviction, due to the squalid conditions in which he lives, but his spokesperson dismissed these tabloid claims as false.
Category:1979 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century artists Category:21st-century poets Category:Alumni of Queen Mary, University of London Category:English artists Category:English guitarists Category:English male singers Category:English people of Irish descent Category:English people of Russian descent Category:English poets Category:English rock singers Category:English songwriters Category:Lead guitarists Category:People convicted of drug offenses Category:People from Hexham Category:People self-identifying as substance abusers Category:Rhythm guitarists Category:Rock songwriters Category:The Libertines members
bs:Pete Doherty ca:Pete Doherty cs:Pete Doherty da:Pete Doherty de:Pete Doherty es:Pete Doherty fa:پیت دوهرتی fr:Pete Doherty it:Pete Doherty lt:Pete Doherty nl:Pete Doherty ja:ピート・ドハーティ no:Pete Doherty pl:Pete Doherty pt:Pete Doherty ru:Доэрти, Пит simple:Pete Doherty sl:Pete Doherty sr:Пит Доерти fi:Pete Doherty sv:Pete DohertyThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
Coordinates | 54°59′″N73°22′″N |
---|---|
name | George VI |
reign | 11 December 1936 – 6 February 1952 |
coronation | 12 May 1937 |
cor-type | britain |
succession | King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions |
moretext | (more...) |
predecessor | Edward VIII |
successor | Elizabeth II |
reg-type | Prime Ministers |
regent | ''See list'' |
spouse | Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon |
issue | Elizabeth IIPrincess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon |
full name | Albert Frederick Arthur George |
house | House of Windsor |
father | George V |
mother | Mary of Teck |
birth place | York Cottage, Sandringham House, Norfolk, United Kingdom |
death place | Sandringham House, Norfolk |
date of burial | 15 February 1952 |
place of burial | St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, United Kingdom |
signature | }} |
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death. He was the last Emperor of India, and the first Head of the Commonwealth.
As the second son of King George V, he was not expected to inherit the throne and spent his early life in the shadow of his elder brother, Edward. He served in the Royal Navy during World War I, and after the war took on the usual round of public engagements. He married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923, and they had two daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret.
George's elder brother ascended the throne as Edward VIII on the death of their father in 1936. However, less than a year later Edward revealed his desire to marry the divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson. British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin advised Edward that for political and religious reasons he could not marry Mrs Simpson and remain king. Edward abdicated in order to marry, and George ascended the throne as the third monarch of the House of Windsor.
On the day of his accession, the parliament of the Irish Free State removed the monarch from its constitution. Further events during George's reign accelerated the break-up of the British Empire and its transition into the Commonwealth of Nations. Three years after his accession, the Empire and Commonwealth, except the Irish Free State, was at war with Nazi Germany. In the next two years, war with Italy and Japan followed. Though Britain and its allies were ultimately victorious, the United States and the Soviet Union rose as pre-eminent world powers and the British Empire declined. After the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, his title of Emperor of India was abandoned in June 1948. Ireland was formally declared a republic in 1949, and India followed suit the following year. George adopted the new title of Head of the Commonwealth. He was beset by health problems in the later years of his reign. After his death, he was succeeded by his elder daughter, Elizabeth II.
His birthday (14 December 1895) was the anniversary of the death of his great-grandfather, Prince Albert, the Prince Consort. Uncertain of how the Prince Consort's widow Queen Victoria would take the news of the birth, the Prince of Wales wrote to the Duke of York that the Queen had been "rather distressed". Two days later, he wrote again: "I really think it would gratify her if you yourself proposed the name ''Albert'' to her". Queen Victoria was mollified by the proposal to name the new baby Albert, and wrote to the Duchess of York: "I am all impatience to see the ''new'' one, born on such a sad day but rather more dear to me, especially as he will be called by that dear name which is a byword for all that is great and good". Consequently, he was baptised "Albert Frederick Arthur George" at St Mary Magdalene's Church near Sandringham three months later. As a great-grandson of Queen Victoria, he was known formally as ''His Highness Prince Albert of York'' from birth. Within the family, he was known informally as "Bertie". However, his maternal grandmother, the Duchess of Teck, did not like the first name the baby had been given, and she wrote prophetically that she hoped the last name "may supplant the less favoured one".
Albert, as he was known, was fourth in line to the throne at birth, after his grandfather, father and elder brother Edward.
In 1898, Queen Victoria issued Letters Patent that granted the children of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales the style ''Royal Highness'', and at the age of two, Albert became "His Royal Highness Prince Albert of York".
He often suffered from ill health and was described as "easily frightened and somewhat prone to tears". His parents, the Duke and Duchess of York, were generally removed from their children's day-to-day upbringing, as was the norm in aristocratic families of that era. He had a stammer that lasted for many years, and was forced to write with his right hand although he was naturally left-handed. He suffered from chronic stomach problems as well as knock knees, for which he was forced to wear painful corrective splints.
Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901, and the Prince of Wales succeeded her as King Edward VII. The Duke of York became next in line to the throne. Prince Edward moved up to second in line to the throne, and Prince Albert was third.
Albert was commissioned as a midshipman on 15 September 1913 and one year later began service in World War I. His fellow officers gave him the nickname "Mr. Johnson". He was mentioned in despatches for his action as a turret officer aboard HMS ''Collingwood'' during the Battle of Jutland (31 May – 1 June 1916), an indecisive action against the German navy that was the largest naval action of the war. He did not see further action in the war, largely because of ill health caused by a duodenal ulcer. In February 1918, he was appointed Officer in Charge of Boys at the Royal Naval Air Service's training establishment at Cranwell. With the establishment of the Royal Air Force two months later and the transfer of Cranwell from Navy to Air Force control, he transferred from the Royal Navy to the Royal Air Force. He was appointed Officer Commanding Number 4 Squadron of the Boys' Wing at Cranwell and he remained there until August 1918. During the closing weeks of the war, he served on the staff of the RAF's Independent Air Force at its headquarters in Nancy. Following the disbanding of the Independent Air Force in November 1918, he remained on the continent as a staff officer with the Royal Air Force.
In October 1919, Albert went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied history, economics and civics for a year. On 4 June 1920, he was created Duke of York, Earl of Inverness and Baron Killarney. He then began to take on royal duties. He represented his father, the King, and toured coal mines, factories, and railyards. Through such visits he acquired the nickname of the "Industrial Prince". His stammering, and his embarrassment over it, together with his tendency to shyness, caused him to appear much less impressive than his older brother, Edward. However, he was physically active and enjoyed playing tennis. He developed an interest in working conditions, and was President of the Industrial Welfare Society. His series of annual summer camps for boys between 1921 and 1939 brought together boys from different social backgrounds.
Although Lady Elizabeth was a descendant of King Robert the Bruce (Robert I of Scotland) and King Henry VII of England, she was, according to British law, a commoner. She rejected his proposal twice and hesitated for nearly two years, reportedly because she was reluctant to make the sacrifices necessary to become a member of the royal family. In the words of Lady Elizabeth's mother, Albert would be "made or marred" by his choice of wife, and after a protracted courtship Elizabeth agreed to marry him.
They were married on 26 April 1923 in Westminster Abbey. The newly formed British Broadcasting Company wished to record and broadcast the event on radio, but the Chapter vetoed the idea (although the Dean, Herbert Edward Ryle, was in favour). Lady Elizabeth was styled Her Royal Highness The Duchess of York after their marriage. Albert's marriage to a British commoner was considered a modernising gesture.
Because of his stammer, Albert dreaded public speaking. After his closing speech at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley on 31 October 1925, one which was an ordeal for both him and the listeners, With his delivery improved by the training, the Duke opened Parliament House in Canberra in 1927, and was able to speak subsequently with only a slight hesitation. His journey by sea to Australia took him via Jamaica, where Albert played doubles tennis partnered with a black man, which was unusual at the time and taken locally as a display of equality between races.
The Duke and Duchess of York had two children: Elizabeth (called "Lilibet" by the family), and Margaret. The Duke and Duchess and their two daughters lived a relatively sheltered life at their London residence, 145 Piccadilly. One of the few stirs arose when the Canadian Prime Minister, R. B. Bennett, considered the Duke for Governor General of Canada in 1931—a proposal that the King rejected on the advice of his ministers.
On 20 January 1936, King George V died, and Prince Edward ascended the throne as Edward VIII. In the Vigil of the Princes, Prince Albert and his three brothers took a shift standing guard over their father's body as it lay in state, in a closed casket, in Westminster Hall.
As Edward had no children, Albert was the heir presumptive to the throne unless then-unmarried Edward had any legitimate children. George V had severe reservations about Edward, saying, "I pray God that my eldest son will never marry and that nothing will come between Bertie and Lilibet and the throne." Less than a year later, on 11 December 1936, Edward VIII abdicated the throne in order to marry his mistress, Wallis Simpson, who was divorced from her first husband and divorcing her second. Edward had been advised by Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin that he could not remain King and marry a divorced woman with two living ex-husbands. Edward chose abdication in preference to abandoning his marriage plans. Thus Albert became king, a position he was reluctant to accept. The day before the abdication, Albert went to London to see his mother, Queen Mary. He wrote in his diary, "When I told her what had happened, I broke down and sobbed like a child."
Courtier and journalist Dermot Morrah alleged that there was brief speculation as to the desirability of bypassing Albert (and his children) and his brother Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, in favour of their younger brother Prince George, Duke of Kent. This seems to have been suggested on the grounds that Prince George was at that time the only brother with a son.
George VI's coronation took place on 12 May 1937, the date previously intended for Edward's coronation. In a break with tradition, Queen Mary attended the ceremony as a show of support for her son. There was no Durbar held in Delhi for George VI, as had occurred for his father, as the cost would have been a burden to the government of India. Rising Indian nationalism made the welcome that the royal couple would have received likely to be muted at best, and a prolonged absence from the UK would have been undesirable in the tense period before World War II. Two overseas tours were undertaken, to France and to North America, both of which promised greater strategic advantages in the event of war.
The growing likelihood of war in Europe dominated the early reign of George VI. The King was constitutionally bound to support Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler. However, when the King and Queen greeted Chamberlain on his return from negotiating the Munich Agreement in 1938, they invited him to appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with them. This public association of the monarchy with a politician was exceptional, as balcony appearances were traditionally restricted to the Royal Family. While broadly popular among the general public, Chamberlain's policy towards Hitler was the subject of some opposition in the House of Commons, which led historian John Grigg to describe the King's behaviour in associating himself so prominently with a politician as "the most unconstitutional act by a British sovereign in the present century".
In May and June 1939, the King and Queen toured Canada and the United States. From Ottawa, the royal couple were accompanied throughout by Canadian prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, to present themselves in North America as King and Queen of Canada. George was the first reigning monarch of Canada to visit North America, although he had been to Canada previously as Prince Albert and as Duke of York. Both Governor General of Canada Lord Tweedsmuir and Mackenzie King hoped that the King's presence in Canada would demonstrate the principles of the Statute of Westminster 1931, which gave full self-government to the British Dominions and recognised each Dominion as having a separate crown. Thus, at his Canadian residence, Rideau Hall, George VI personally accepted and approved the Letter of Credence of the newly appointed U.S. Ambassador to Canada, Daniel Calhoun Roper. The official royal tour historian, Gustave Lanctot, stated: "When Their Majesties walked into their Canadian residence, the Statute of Westminster had assumed full reality: the King of Canada had come home."
The entire trip was a measure intended to soften the strong isolationist tendencies among the North American public with regard to the developing tensions in Europe. Although the aim of the tour was mainly political, to shore up Atlantic support for the United Kingdom in any future war, the King and Queen were enthusiastically received by the public. The fear that George would be compared unfavourably to his predecessor, Edward VIII, was dispelled. They visited the 1939 New York World's Fair and stayed with President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House and at his private estate at Hyde Park, New York.
In 1940, Winston Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister, though personally George would have preferred to appoint Lord Halifax. After the King's initial dismay over Churchill's appointment of Lord Beaverbrook to the Cabinet, he and Churchill developed "the closest personal relationship in modern British history between a monarch and a Prime Minister". For four and a half years, beginning in September 1940, the two men met privately for lunch on Tuesdays to discuss the war in secret and with frankness.
A strong bond of friendship was forged between the King and Queen and President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor during the 1939 royal tour, which had major significance in the relations between the United States and the United Kingdom through the war years.
Throughout the war, the King and Queen provided morale-boosting visits throughout the United Kingdom, visiting bomb sites and munitions factories, and (in the King's case) visiting military forces abroad. Their high public profile and apparently indefatigable determination secured their place as symbols of national resistance. In 1945, crowds shouted "We want the King!" in front of Buckingham Palace during the Victory in Europe Day celebrations. In an echo of Chamberlain's appearance, the King invited Churchill to appear with him on the balcony to public acclaim.
George VI's reign saw the acceleration of the dissolution of the British Empire, which had begun with the Balfour Declaration at the 1926 Imperial Conference, when the British Dominions were acknowledged to have evolved into sovereign states over a period of years—a declaration which was formalised in the Statute of Westminster 1931. The process of transformation from an empire to a voluntary association of independent states, known as the Commonwealth, gathered pace after World War II, especially in the ministry of Clement Attlee. British India became the two independent dominions of India and Pakistan in 1947. George relinquished the title of Emperor of India, and became King of India and King of Pakistan instead. He remained King of Pakistan until his death, but in 1950 George ceased to be King of India when India became a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, recognising George's new title as Head of the Commonwealth. Other countries, such as Transjordan in 1946, Burma in January 1948, Palestine (although divided between Israel and the Arab states) in May 1948 and Ireland in 1949, opted out of the Commonwealth.
In 1947, the King and his family toured Southern Africa. The Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa, Jan Smuts, was facing an election and hoped to make political capital out of the visit. George was appalled, however, when instructed by the South African government to shake hands only with whites, and referred to his South African bodyguards as "the Gestapo". Despite the tour, Smuts lost the election the following year, and the new government instituted a strict policy of racial segregation.
On 31 January 1952, despite advice from those close to him, he went to the airport to see off Princess Elizabeth, who was going on her tour of Australia via Kenya. On 6 February, George VI died from a coronary thrombosis in his sleep at Sandringham House in Norfolk, at the age of 56. His daughter Elizabeth flew back to the UK from Kenya as Elizabeth II. Because George died in his sleep during the night, his precise moment of death, and Elizabeth's accession, is not known.
His funeral took place at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, on 15 February 1952, after a lying in state at Westminster Hall. He was interred in the Royal Vault until transferred to the King George VI Memorial Chapel inside St. George's on 26 March 1969. In 2002, the remains of his widow, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and the ashes of his daughter Princess Margaret, who both died that year, were interred in the chapel alongside him.
The George Cross and the George Medal were founded at the King's suggestion during the Second World War to recognise acts of exceptional civilian bravery. He was posthumously awarded the Ordre de la Libération by the French government in 1960, one of only two people (the other being Churchill) to be awarded the medal after 1946.
There are a number of geographical features, roads, and institutions named after George VI. These include King George Hospital in London; King George VI Highway and King George Station in Surrey, British Columbia; George VI Sound in Antarctica; and the King George VI Chase, a horse race in the United Kingdom.
In 1955 a statue of the king in his Garter robes was erected just off The Mall and Carlton Gardens in London. A neighbouring statue of his wife was unveiled in 2009. Another statue of the king can be found in the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens.
On screen, George VI has been portrayed by, among others, Colin Firth, who won an Academy Award for Best Actor for the role in the 2010 film ''The King's Speech'', which won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
{{s-ttl|title=Cover of Time Magazine |years=12 January 1925}} }}
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af:George VI van die Verenigde Koninkryk ar:جورج السادس ملك المملكة المتحدة an:Chorche VI d'o Reino Unito az:VI Georq be:Георг VI be-x-old:Георг VI bs:George VI, kralj Ujedinjenog Kraljevstva bg:Джордж VI ca:Jordi VI del Regne Unit cs:Jiří VI. cy:Siôr VI, brenin y Deyrnas Unedig da:George 6. af Storbritannien de:Georg VI. (Vereinigtes Königreich) et:George VI el:Γεώργιος ΣΤ΄ του Ηνωμένου Βασιλείου es:Jorge VI del Reino Unido eo:Georgo la 6-a (Britio) eu:Jurgi VI.a Erresuma Batukoa fa:جرج ششم پادشاهی متحده fr:George VI du Royaume-Uni ga:Seoirse VI na Ríochta Aontaithe gd:Seòras VI gl:Xurxo VI do Reino Unido ko:조지 6세 hi:जार्ज षष्ठम् hr:Đuro VI. io:George 6ma di Unionita Rejio id:George VI dari Britania Raya is:Georg 6. Bretlandskonungur it:Giorgio VI del Regno Unito he:ג'ורג' השישי, מלך הממלכה המאוחדת ka:ჯორჯ VI kw:Jori VI la:Georgius VI (rex Britanniarum) lv:Džordžs VI Vindzors hu:VI. György brit király mk:Џорџ VI mr:जॉर्ज सहावा, इंग्लंड arz:جورج الساتت ملك المملكه المتحده ms:George VI nl:George VI van het Verenigd Koninkrijk ja:ジョージ6世 (イギリス王) no:Georg VI av Storbritannia nn:Georg VI av Storbritannia nrm:George VI du Rouoyaume Unni oc:Jòrdi VI del Reialme Unit pl:Jerzy VI Windsor pt:Jorge VI do Reino Unido ro:George al VI-lea al Regatului Unit ru:Георг VI scn:Giorgiu VI dû Regnu Unitu simple:George VI of the United Kingdom sk:Juraj VI. (Spojené kráľovstvo) sr:Џорџ VI fi:Yrjö VI (Iso-Britannia) sv:Georg VI av Storbritannien ta:ஐக்கிய இராச்சியத்தின் ஆறாம் ஜோர்ஜ் th:สมเด็จพระเจ้าจอร์จที่ 6 แห่งสหราชอาณาจักร tr:VI. George uk:Георг VI (король Великобританії) vi:George VI của Anh yi:געארג דער זעקסטער yo:George 6k Ilẹ̀ọba Aparapọ̀ zh-yue:佐治六世 zh:乔治六世
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