Billie Holiday c. 1933 From An Accident Comes a Legend Billie Holiday was born Eleanora Fagan in Baltimore on April 7, 1915, the illegitimate child of Sadie Fagan, a domestic and Clarence Holiday, a musician who abandoned Sadie and the young Eleanora for the grind and glory of the road. It is said that he referred to his adoring daughter as an “accident” and “something I stole when I was fifteen.” Young Eleanora stayed with relatives in Baltimore while her mother labored as a domestic in New York City. The girl spent a good portion of her time at a neighborhood brothel where she would spend hours listening to the music of Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong on its Victrola . After almost being raped at the tender age of 10, Eleanora was sent away to an institution ran by Catholic nuns as punishment for allegedly enticing the man who almost stole what little innocence she had. 'Lady Day' c. late 1930s An Extraordinary Career Begins When she was 18 in ...