Women History Month Special: Influential Women in Music
- Carmen Gomensoro
- Mar 14, 2021
- 2 min read
In honour of Women History Month this past March, we are bringing attention to four wonderful women who have made an impact not only in music history but also in society.
Aretha Franklin, a fierce supporter of civil and women’s rights, topped in 1967 with the hit ‘Respect’, a symbol of female empowerment. Franklin took Otis Redding’s song and transformed it into her own version, changing roles and making it about a woman demanding respect from her husband. It is important to mention that it became an anthem for the black-power movement.
Billie Holiday, an African American jazz vocalist, released a song called “Strange Fruit” which was inspired by the constant news of young, unarmed black men being attacked. The song protests against those phenomenons and symbolises the racism and brutality of the practice of lynching in Southern United States. Holiday popularised this song, which was originally written by Aber Meeropol. A known racist tried to silence Holiday and forbid her from singing the song, yet she refused to comply with his request.
More details about Billie’s impacting story can be found in this link: https://www.biography.com/news/billie-holiday-strange-fruit
Whitney Houston, a wonderful, talented singer, known for her hits "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" and "I Will Always Love You". Houston formed the Whitney Houston Foundation for Children, an organization that cares for children with cancer and AIDS, and was involved in the United Negro College Fund, which “funds scholarships for Black students and general scholarship funds for 37 private historically Black colleges and universities”. (Wikipedia, 2021, para. 1)
Ella Fitzgerald contributed to the civil rights movement, was awarded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Equal Justice Award and the American Black Achievement Award. Surely, she was not named the “First Lady of Jazz” for nothing: Ella was one of the first women to achieve success in this music genre and paved the way for many women who pursued a career in performing arts. Usually, singers had writers to compose their songs, but Fitzgerald wrote them herself. At the time, women did not have jobs, and she was an inspiration for them. A group called “flappers” emerged, which was a revolutionary movement for women. They started wearing short hair, skirts, wore a lot of makeup, smoked, chose their romantic partner, and had an independent mind. The singer embraced these qualities and helped with the liberation of women.
Bibliography
Biography.com Editors. (2014, April 2nd). Aretha Franklin Biography. The Biography.com Website. https://www.biography.com/musician/aretha-franklin
Biography.com Editors. (2014, April 2nd). Billie Holiday Biography. The Biography.com Website. https://www.biography.com/musician/billie-holiday
Biography.com Editors. (2014, April 2nd). Whitney Houston Biography. The Biography.com Website. https://www.biography.com/musician/whitney-houston
Biography.com Editors. (2014, April 2nd). Whitney Houston Biography. The Biography.com Website. https://www.biography.com/musician/ella-fitzgerald
Warner Media (2021). Whitney Houston. Retrieved from https://pressroom.warnermedia.com/us/image/whitney-houston
Wikipedia (2021). Aretha Franklin. Retrieved from
Wikipedia (2021). Billie Holiday. Retrieved from
Wikipedia (2021). Ella Fitzgerald. Retrieved from
Wikipedia (2021) UNCF. Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNCF
Woman in music Organization (2021). Be the change: woman making music
in 2021. Womeninmusic.org. Linkedin. Retrieved from
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