The Rejection That Made Billie Pivot Into Stardom

portrait of billie holiday smiling
Via Wikimedia Commons
Briona Lamback
February 5, 2025

Billie Holiday took a Harlem nightclub stage expecting to claim fame as a dancer, but something else happened instead. "One day, we were so hungry we could barely breathe. It was cold as all-hell and I walked from 145th to 133rd going in every joint trying to find work," she recalled.

Holiday waltzed into the Log Cabin Club and told the owner she was a dancer. "He said to dance. I tried it. He said I stunk." But she didn't let rejection stop her. What she did next broke necks.

She opened her mouth and belted out a song. The crowd was shook. "The customers stopped drinking. They turned around and watched…Jeez, you should have seen those people—all of them started crying." Lady Day was hired on the spot. And she didn't stop there.

If she had given up on her dreams after the first no, we might not have gotten the song of the century, Strange Fruit. She didn't take no for an answer again when anti-Black forces tried to stop her from singing about the lynchings of our people.

Holiday's legacy is a reminder not to be afraid to pivot. Our ancestors persevered through  uncertainty. You never know what greatness leaning into your dreams can bring to yourself or our people.

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