Billie Holiday

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Billie Holiday sang about alcohol and broken hearts, but she also fought racism most famously through the song Strange Fruit written by Abel Meerpol about the lynchings of J Thomas Ship and Abraham S Smith. Billie first performed Strange Fruit in 1939. It became her signature last song. She would sing in darkness with a spotlight on her face and there would be no encore. It was shortly after she sang Strange Fruit for the first time that The Federal Bureau of Narcotics led by Harry Anslinger began to pursue her. When she was arrested for possession of heroin in 1947 she pleaded guilty and asked to be sent to hospital so she could be cured. Instead she was sent to jail. And this is something societies still wrestle with. Many people with addiction problems are still likely to be punished rather than supported to quit and stay clean. Professor Sally Marlow is a specialist in mental health and addiction. She analyses the lyrics of Billie Holiday's songs for what they tell us about alcohol use in women. Without treatment Billie Holiday’s addiction escalated and in 1959 she collapsed dying in hospital from cirrhosis of the liver. She had offers of detox and rehab but was not allowed to take them up. Her death symbolises the conflict between addiction as a health issue and a criminal one. Presented by Professor Sally Marlow Produced by Geraldine Fitzgerald A TellTale Industries Ltd production