Harold Holiday was born in Fort Bend County on September 12, 1908. During the 1920s and 1930s Harold Holiday met Robert Shaw of Stafford, Pinetop Burks of Richmond, and Rob Cooper in the Fourth Ward of Houston. There, they formed the blues and jazz musical ensemble, Santa Fe Group. Santa Fe Group was a changing ensemble of blues pianists who played in roadhouses and juke joints along the Santa Fe railroad tracks. While in the Santa Fe Group, Holiday adopted the stage name Black Boy Shine.
Black Boy Shine's voice was noted for its smooth, sweet melody, and his playing was characterized as elegant. He often depicted the realities of life for him and his predominantly black audience. His songs like “Hobo Blues” and “Ice Pistol Woman Blues” portrayed more unpleasant and potentially violent life events.
Around the mid-1930s, Black Boy Shine began to collaborate with fellow pianist Aubrey "Moon" Mullican. They performed together for a time under the name Moonshine around Houston. In 1935 and 1936, Black Boy Shine recorded as an accompanist for both blues singer and pianist Bernice Edwards and blues guitarist J.T. Smith on numerous tracks. Then, from 1936 to 1937, he recorded solo records for both Vocalion Records and Melotone Records in San Antonio and Dallas.
Shine died of tuberculosis on March 28, 1952, in Sugar Land at the age of 43. He was buried in Stafford Colored Cemetery (New Hope Cemetery today) in Stafford, Texas.
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