Billie's Future Poppa

Childhood portrait of Clarence Holiday (1898 - 1937). He became a big band banjo player and guitarist whose flashy example helped lure his daughter, Billie Holiday, into the music business world but whose hustling ways would be mirrored in many of the predatory men she later called Daddy.

Clarence played rhythm guitar and banjo as a member of the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra from 1928 to 1933. He also recorded with Benny Carter and worked with Charlie Turner, Louis Metcalf, and the Don Redman Big Band.

Source: Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday by Robert O'Meally