On July 17, 1959, Billie Holiday died in Metropolitan Hospital in New York City. She was 44. She had been arrested on her hospital deathbed for possession of narcotics — federal agents posted outside her room, fingerprinted her while she was receiving treatment. She died handcuffed to the bed, under police guard.

Holiday had been performing since her teens in Harlem clubs. She recorded "Strange Fruit" in 1939 — a song about lynching, with imagery graphic enough that Columbia Records refused to release it. She recorded it on an independent label. The Federal Bureau of Narcotics, under Harry Anslinger, placed her under surveillance after its release. Anslinger considered her association with the anti-lynching anthem a problem.

Anslinger's agents ran a decade-long campaign against her. Her cabaret license was revoked after a 1947 drug conviction, meaning she could not perform in venues that served alcohol — essentially every major jazz venue in New York. She continued performing on concert stages. She was arrested repeatedly. She entered treatment. She relapsed. The surveillance continued.

Her autobiography Lady Sings the Blues was published in 1956. Her final recording session was in 1959, in a state of physical deterioration she openly discussed. She died with 70 cents in her bank account and $750 strapped to her leg.