April 07

Eleanora Fagan's Birthday

Eleanora Fagen's parents were not married so she had her mother's surname when she was born. After she started singing professionally, she took her new name from Billie Dove, an actress she admired, and her father, Clarence Holiday. At the outset of her career, she spelled her last name Halliday, but eventually changed it to Holiday Many non-jazz buffs may remember her difficult life from Diana Ross's film Lady Sings the Blues (1972).

Billie's first big break came in 1927 when toured with the Count Basie Orchestra. About that time, her mother, Sadie Fagan, started her own restaurant with the money that Billie earned while shooting dice with members of the Count Basie band. Fagan began borrowing large amounts of money from Billie because the restaurant wasn't turning a profit. Billie obliged, but soon fell on hard times herself. "I needed some money one night and I knew Mom was sure to have some," she said. "So I walked in the restaurant like a stockholder and asked. Mom turned me down flat. She wouldn't give me a cent." The two argued and then, in a rage, Billie hollered "God bless the child that's got his own," and stormed out of the restaurant. With help from a pianist friend, the two wrote a song based on the line "God Bless the Child" and added music. "God Bless the Child" became Holiday's most popular and covered record.

In 1938, Billie began singing with Artie Shaw and his orchestra which was highly controversial as a black female vocalist touring with an all-white band. She wrote “Strange Fruit” in 1939 about the lynching of blacks in the South. Around this time, she began using heavy narcotics, became addicted, and was arrested several time for possession.

Billie had her last club date in New York City on May 25, 1959. Six days later, she was taken to Metropolitan Hospital in New York suffering from liver and heart disease. She was arrested for drug possession as she lay dying, and her hospital room was raided by authorities. Billie remained under police guard at the hospital until she died from cirrhosis of the liver on July 17, 1959. More than 3,000 people, .including many of the jazz greats. attended at her wake at St. Paul the Apostle Roman Catholic Church four days later.

Today she is remembered as one of the best jazz vocalists of all time, In 2000, Billie was inducted in to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Diana Ross doing the honors.

Strange Fruit Cheesecake

Crust Ingredients

1&1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1&1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut (toasted)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter -- melted

Filling Ingredients

2 (8-oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 (10-oz) can sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs
1 TB lemon zest
2 TB lemon juice
1 TB coconut extract
2 cups cubed fresh mango
1 TB sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325º F.
Lightly grease a 9-inch springform pan.
Mix graham cracker crumbs, coconut and sugar in medium bowl. Add butter and mix to blend.
Press mixture into bottom and up sides of pre-pared pan. Chill while preparing filling.
Bake the crust in the preheated oven until browned and set, about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Reduce oven heat to 300º F.
Beat the softened cream cheese in mixer bowl until smooth. With beater set to medium-low, slowly pour the condensed milk into the bowl, mixing only until just blended, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the eggs, individually, allowing the first to blend into the mixture before adding the second; again, scrape the sides of the bowl as necessary.
Pour about half of the cream cheese batter into a separate bowl. Stir the lime juice and lime zest into the portion in the new bowl; pour the batter over the crust in the springform pan, smoothing into an even layer.
Stir the coconut extract through the remaining cream cheese batter; pour over the lime-flavored batter in the springform pan, smoothing into an even layer.
Bake in the preheated oven until the top of the cheesecake springs back when gently pressed, about 45 minutes. Turn oven heat off, but leave cheesecake inside with oven door slightly ajar until the oven cools completely. Refrigerate until completely chilled.
Prepare mango coulis by pureeing the mango with sugar until smooth. If too thick, add a teaspoon of water at a time, using just enough to make pourable. Drizzle over cheesecake when plated.

Serves 12