Editing Charlie Parker (section)

==Personal life==
Parker acquired the nickname "Yardbird" early in his career while on the road with [[Jay McShann]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Yardbird |url=http://www.birdlives.co.uk/content/yardbird |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219234852/http://www.birdlives.co.uk/content/yardbird |archive-date=December 19, 2013 |access-date=December 19, 2013 |publisher=Birdlives.co.uk}}</ref> This, and the shortened form "Bird", were used as nicknames for Parker for the rest of his life and inspired the titles of a number of Parker's compositions, such as "[[Yardbird Suite]]", "[[Ornithology (composition)|Ornithology]]", "Bird Gets the Worm", and "Bird of Paradise".

Parker's life was riddled with mental health problems and an addiction to [[heroin]].{{sfn|Haddix|2013|pp=2–3}} Although it is unclear which came first, his addiction to opiates began at the age of 16, when he was injured in a car crash and a doctor prescribed morphine for the pain. The addiction that stemmed from this incident led him to miss performances, and he was considered to be unreliable.{{sfn|Haddix|2013|pp=2–3}} In the jazz scene, heroin use was prevalent and the substance could be acquired with little difficulty.{{sfn|Haddix|2013|pp=117, 139–140}}

Although he produced many brilliant recordings during this period, Parker's behavior became increasingly erratic. Heroin was difficult to obtain once he moved to California, where the drug was less abundant, so he used alcohol as a substitute. A recording for the [[Dial Records (1946)|Dial]] label from July 29, 1946 provides evidence of his condition. Before this session, Parker drank a [[quart]] of [[whiskey]]. According to the liner notes of ''[[Charlie Parker on Dial#Volume 1|Charlie Parker on Dial Volume 1]]'',{{Reliable|date=April 2025}} Parker missed most of the first two bars of his first chorus on the track "Max Making Wax". When he finally did come in, he swayed wildly and once spun all the way around, away from his microphone. On the next tune, "[[Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)|Lover Man]]", producer [[Ross Russell (jazz)|Ross Russell]] physically supported Parker. On "Bebop" (the final track Parker recorded that evening), he begins a solo with a solid first eight bars; on his second eight bars, however, he begins to struggle, and a desperate [[Howard McGhee]], the trumpeter on this session, shouts, "Blow!" at him. [[Charles Mingus]], however, considered this version of "Lover Man" to be among Parker's greatest recordings, despite its flaws.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Masters of Bebop: A Listener's Guide |last=Gitler |first=Ira |author-link=Ira Gitler |year=2001 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=0-306-81009-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/mastersofbebopli00gitl/page/33 33] |quote=Charles Mingus once chose it when asked to name his favorite Parker recordings. 'I like all', he said, 'none more than the other, but I'd have to pick "Lover Man" for the feeling he had then and his ability to express that feeling.' |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/mastersofbebopli00gitl/page/33}}</ref> Nevertheless, Parker hated the recording and never forgave Ross Russell for releasing it. He re-recorded the tune in 1951 for [[Verve Records|Verve]]. Parker's life took a turn for the worse in March 1954 when his three-year-old daughter Pree died of [[cystic fibrosis]] and [[pneumonia]].<ref name="Pree">[https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/mar/21/charlie-parker-julie-macdonald-sculpture Charlie Parker: a genius distilled]. ''[[TheGuardian.com]]''. March 21, 2010. Retrieved December 18, 2018.</ref> He attempted [[suicide]] twice in 1954, which once again landed him in a mental hospital.<ref>{{Citation |last=nyakuti5 |title=The Charlie Parker Story |date=December 24, 2007 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g53WF-UjhEA |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190104071714/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g53WF-UjhEA&gl=US&hl=en |archive-date=January 4, 2019 |access-date=February 7, 2018}}</ref><ref name="Attempted Suicide">{{cite web | title=Charlie Parker | website=Blue Note Records | date=2019-04-26 | url=https://www.bluenote.com/artist/charlie-parker/ | access-date=2025-05-07}}</ref>