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Local figure

Billy Strayhorn

The jazz composer came from Ohio to his grandparents' house at the corner of Margaret Lane and Hillsborough Avenue from about age five, attended his first year of school in Hillsborough, and took to the piano they kept. He spent breaks and summers in the town into his early teens; his father and grandfather worked at the Eno Mill.

Source: NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Billy Strayhorn 1915-1967 (G-125)

1 indexed work is connected with this person. 1 held at OCPL →

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Indexed works

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Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn

Hajdu, David · 1996 · Farrar, Straus, Giroux

David Hajdu's biography of Billy Strayhorn, the composer and pianist who spent much of his career writing with and for Duke Ellington, and who passed part of his boyhood with grandparents in Hillsborough. Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 1996, 305 pages with illustrations. Topics include jazz musicians, composers and African American gay composers.

Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Strayhorn, Billy.

Reviewed in Jazz & Culture (2001).

✓ Held at OCPL · BIO STRAYHOR HAJ NC Cardinal Chapel Hill PL Library of Congress

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See these 5 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Billy Strayhorn, who spent boyhood summers in Hillsborough, was born Composer and pianist Billy Strayhorn was born in Dayton, Ohio. From about age five he stayed with his grandparents at Margaret Lane and Hillsborough Avenue in Hillsborough, attended his first year of school there, learned piano in their home, and spent breaks and summers in the town into his early teens. People: Billy StrayhornSearch the index · NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Billy Strayhorn 1915-1967 (Highway Historical Marker G-125)
  2. Billy Strayhorn stays with his grandparents in Hillsborough and starts school From about age five Strayhorn came from Ohio with his mother and siblings to his grandparents' house at the corner of Margaret Lane and Hillsborough Avenue, attended his first year of school in the town, and took to the piano his grandparents kept. He returned for breaks and summers into his early teens.Search the index · NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Billy Strayhorn 1915-1967 (G-125)
  3. A state highway marker for Billy Strayhorn goes up in Hillsborough The North Carolina Office of Archives and History put up marker G-125 on South Churton Street. It calls Strayhorn a jazz composer and pianist who wrote Take the A Train for the Duke Ellington Orchestra and points a quarter mile west to his boyhood home site.Search the index · The Historical Marker Database: Billy Strayhorn Historical Marker
  4. Hillsborough holds a celebration of Billy Strayhorn A day of events called A Celebration of Billy Strayhorn began at the historical marker on South Churton Street and ran on at the Orange County Main Library and the Burwell School Historic Site. Mayor Tom Stevens, the musician Yahyah Corbett, the choreographer David Rousseve, the Duke professor Thomas DeFrantz and the puppeteer Jeghetto took part. People: Tom StevensSearch the index · North Carolina Arts Council: Hillsborough Celebrates Hometown Musical Great Billy Strayhorn
  5. A mural for Billy Strayhorn is painted on South Churton Street Max Dowdle painted an eleven by thirty five foot mural called Take the A Train on the side of 226 South Churton Street, the building that houses the record store and bar Volume. Volume's owner Tony Lopez proposed it, the Tourism Development Authority paid for it, and the Arts Council and the Historic District Commission approved it.Search the index · The Daily Tar Heel: Low-cost, high-impact, Hillsborough honors jazz legend with first downtown mural

Places in this person’s story

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Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange and OpenStreetMap; town and community pins mark the middle of their mapped buildings.

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Research sources

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Background

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Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for Billy Strayhorn Library card An advanced search of the state’s shared databases already scoped to Orange County’s places and this subject; edit it freely, and sign in through your North Carolina library to read
  • Ancestry Library Edition In the libraryOrange County Public Library Census, birth, death and marriage records, and more, free on the public computers at OCPL libraries

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Books about Billy Strayhorn

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Historical records and collections

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