The Broken RecordExtra

Ella Fitzgerald

American jazz singer (1917–1996)

Ella Jane Fitzgerald was an American jazz vocalist, songwriter and composer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing.

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Admit one

Ella Fitzgerald

what: one person
from: Newport News
born: 1917
until: 1996
on the air here: 0 songs
still after: 18 songs

File card: Ella Fitzgerald

real name: Ella Jane Fitzgerald

labels: Capitol Records, Decca, Verve Records

genres: jazz, swing, traditional pop, soul

influenced by: Maxine Sullivan

awards: Presidential Medal of Freedom, National Medal of Arts, Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, National Women's Hall of Fame, Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, Kennedy Center Honors, honorary doctorate from Princeton University, NEA Jazz Masters

plays: piano, voice

member of: Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong

Facts from Wikidata and Discogs, free to use.

jazzswingvocal jazzbluesbig band2008 universal fire victim

Radio Free Elsewhere BulletinExtra

Early life and family

Ella Jane Fitzgerald was born on April 25, 1917, in Newport News, Virginia. She was the daughter of William Ashland Fitzgerald, a transfer wagon driver from Blackstone, Virginia, and Temperance Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald's parents were unmarried but lived together in the East End section of Newport News for at least two and a half years after she was born. In the early 1920s, Fitzgerald's mother and her new partner, a Portuguese immigrant named Joseph da Silva, moved to Yonkers, New York. Her half-sister, Frances da Silva, was born in 1923. By 1925, Fitzgerald and her family had moved to nearby School Street, a poor Italian area in the Nodine Hill neighborhood. Fitzgerald began her formal education at the age of six and was an outstanding...

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The Elsewhere GazetteExtra

Early career

While Fitzgerald seems to have survived during 1933 and 1934 in part by singing on the streets of Harlem, she debuted at age 17 on November 21, 1934, in one of the earliest Amateur Nights at the Apollo Theater. Fitzgerald had intended to go on stage and dance, but she was intimidated by a local dance duo called the Edwards Sisters and opted to sing instead. Performing in the style of Connee Boswell, Fitzgerald sang "Judy" and "The Object of My Affection" and won first prize. She won the chance to perform at the Apollo for a week but, seemingly because of her disheveled appearance, the theater never gave her that part of her prize.

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Tributes and legacy

The career history and archival material from Fitzgerald's long career are housed in the Archives Center at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, while her personal music arrangements are at the Library of Congress. Her extensive cookbook collection was donated to the Schlesinger Library at Harvard University, and her extensive collection of published sheet music was donated to UCLA. Harvard gave her an honorary degree in music in 1990.

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Born: 25 April 1917 in Newport News, Virginia, USA. Died: 15 June 1996 in Beverly Hills, California, USA (aged 79). Dubbed 'The First Lady Of Song', Ella Fitzgerald was the most popular female jazz singer in the US for more than half a century. In her lifetime, she sold over 40 million albums and won 13 Grammy Awards: - Best Jazz Performance, Individual for 514542 - Best Vocal Performance, Female for 452934 - Best Jazz Performance - Soloist for 243842 - Best Vocal Performance, Female for But Not For Me from 303629 - Best Vocal Performance Album, Female for 123332 - Best Vocal Performance Single Record Or Track, Female for Mack The Knife from 123332 - Best Solo Vocal Performance, Female for 260698 - Best Jazz Vocal Performance for 243845 - Best Jazz Vocal Performance for 260701 - Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female for 96849 - Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female for 519172 - Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female for 511661 - Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female for 734749 Mother of jazz pianist/singer Ray Brown Jr., ex-wife of jazz double-bassist Ray Brown. Also known as: *Fitzgerald, E Fitzgerald, E. Fitzgerald, E.Fitzgerald, Ella From Discogs (free to use). Their entry