Becoming Billie Holiday

Before the legend of Billie Holliday, there was a girl named Eleanora. Eleanora's journey into legend took her through pain, poverty and run-ins with the law. Through a sequence of poems, this title chronicles Eleanora Fagan's metamorphosis into Billie Holliday and the dream she pursued with passion.

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Before the legend of Billie Holliday, there was a girl named Eleanora. The world, however, would know her as Billie Holliday, possibly one of the greatest jazz singers of all time. Eleanora's journey into legend took her through pain, poverty and run-ins with the law. By the time she was fifteen, she knew she possessed something that could change her life - a voice. Eleanora could sing! Her remarkable voice led her to a place in the spotlight with some of the era's hottest big bands. Billie Holliday sang as if she lived each lyric and in many ways she had.Through a sequence of raw and poignant poems, award-winning poet, Carole Boston Weatherford chronicles Eleanora Fagan's metamorphosis into Billie Holliday and the dream she pursued with passion.