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Thursday, Mar 28th

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You are here: Community Features Library closes out Black History Month with Billie Holiday tribute

Library closes out Black History Month with Billie Holiday tribute

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GALLUP – About a dozen area folks turned out Feb. 25 to see an oral rendition of Billie Holiday. The event was part of the Octavia Fellin Library’s series of Black History Month presentations.

“It was wonderful,” library Director Mary Ellen Pellington said. “The entire series was attended by dozens of area people.”

Brenda Hollingsworth-Marley of Albuquerque gave an impersonation of Holiday that traced Holiday’s upbringing from Baltimore to New York City. Pellington noted that the event was sponsored by the New Mexico Humanities Council and Department of Cultural Affairs.

Holiday was a jazz musician and singer-songwriter who had a career spanning more than two decades. Nicknamed “Lady Day,” she was known for her vocal delivery and improvisational skills. Inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1973, Holiday is the recipient of four posthumous Grammy awards.

Born Eleanor Fagan in Philadelphia in 1915, Holiday died of a drug overdose in New York City in 1959.

“I thought it was a very good presentation,” Carlene Trujillo of Window Rock said. “I think everybody should know about stuff like this.”

By Bernie Dotson

Sun Correspondent