Elenora Fagan (stage name Billie Holiday) was born on April 7, 1915 in Philadelphia Pennsylvania and died on July 17, 1959. Billie's mother was thirteen when Billie was born, and with no support from her parents, her mother's older half sister raised Billie in Baltimore. Billie went to New York as a teen, working with her mother in a brothel until they were arrested and spent time in prison. Despite her very hard childhood, she found a passion for singing and rose to become a jazz legend. She took her stage name from actress Billie Dove and musician Clarence Holiday. After singing in various clubs in New York for tips, he recorded her first songs when she was 18 years old in 1933 with the Benny Goodman band that became instant hits. As her career blossomed, she gave generous amounts of money to her mother, who wanted to run a restaurant. After many years of sending money to her mother, Billie was in a tight spot herself, and visited her mother to ask for a loan. Her mother turned her down flat, and after several minutes of loud arguing, Billie turned around to leave and shouted over her shoulder, ‘God bless the child that's got his own.’ Later, she wrote the song ‘God Bless the Child’, which became her most popular song, requested everywhere she went.