God Bless The Child was written by Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog Jr. in 1939. It was first recorded in May 1941 by Billie and released in 1942. Her version of the song was honored with the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1976.
After being heard by producer John Hammond, who liked her voice, Holiday signed a contract with Brunswick Records in 1935. Collaborations with Teddy Wilson produced the standard What a Little Moonlight Can Do.
Billie Holiday’s best-selling record Strange Fruit was a sombre blues account of racism in the South. In 1939 Time Magazine derided the song as propaganda for the NAACP. ironically, 60 years later Time selected it as ‘song of the century’!
