Strange Fruit; Fine and Mellow
date: label: recording date
content: 1939
name: label: recording artist
content: Billie Holiday and her Orchestra
label: composer
content: Allan, Lewis
label: manufacturer
content: Commodore
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: <p>Billy Holiday and her Orchestra. side 1: Strange Fruit; side 2: Fine and Mellow (Commodore 526)<br>78 rpm</p>
label: Description (Brief)
content: <p>Billie Holiday (1915–1959,) an African American jazz singer nicknamed Lady Day, emerged on the jazz scene after a difficult and impoverished upbringing. Known for her light, rhythmic singing, Holiday performed with some of the most famous American jazz musicians throughout the 1930s and 1940s. She first performed “Strange Fruit,” a song written by a Jewish poet about the lynching of African Americans, at the Café Society club in 1939. Her performances of the song were filled with emotion, and the recording reached number 16 on the charts. Holiday went on to release a number of other hits, but “Strange Fruit” remained the best-selling record of her career.</p>
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
label: See more items in
content: Music & Musical Instruments
label: See more items in
content: Popular Entertainment
label: See more items in
content: 1939 exhibit
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Rust, Brian. Jazz Records 1897-1942, Vol. 1
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Robert B. Campbell in memory of Dorothy and William Campbell
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1996.3034.11383
label: nonaccession number
content: 1996.3034
label: catalog number
content: 1996.3034.11383
label: label number
content: 526
objectType: label: Object Name
content: sound recording
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: shellac (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 10 in; x 25.4 cm