American jazz singer and songwriter Billie Holiday has a Baltimore connection. She spent the bulk of her childhood on a block of South Durham Street in Upper Fells Point. Residents and artists in that neighborhood are honoring her by starting a project that pays tribute to Holiday while also bringing new life to the block.
Media and communication studies student Ken Corbett is an intern for WYPR’s Maryland Morning and produced and narrated a story about the project that aired on the program January 17. In December, Corbett spent a day on Holiday’s block on South Durham Street and put together a story after interviewing residents and Holiday’s biographer.
“Billie Holiday may have spent some of her darker years in Baltimore, but the people who live in her old neighborhood now are using that legacy and her image to brighten things up,” Corbett says.
You can listen to the full story here.
