Discover the story of the song > Strange Fruit – Billie Holiday

The song Strange Fruit was written in 1937 by Abel Meeropol, a New York City teacher, under the pseudonym Lewis Allan. Meeropol was deeply disturbed by the lynching of a young African-American couple, and he decided to denounce this violence in song form. The first public performance of Strange Fruit took place at Café Society, a New York City jazz club, in 1939. The song was popularized by Billie Holiday, who recorded it for Columbia Records in 1939. Strange Fruit became a symbol of the struggle against racism in the United States, and Holiday is often cited as one of the most important artists in jazz history.