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ELLA FITZGERALD FIRST LADY OF SONG AND QUEEN OF JAZZ

FULL NAME: Ella Jane Fitzgerald

BORN: APRIL 25, 1917, NEWPORT NEWS, VIRGINIA, U.S.A.

DIED: JUNE 15, 1996, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A.

NATIONALITY: AMERICAN

Ella Fitzgerald, captured in a 1946 photograph by William P. Gottlieb

THE EARLY DAYS OF JAZZ

To this day, Ella Fitzgerald holds the crown as the Queen of Jazz. Lady Ella, as she was known, had one of the most recognizable voices in music and is considered to be one of the most important jazz and blues artists of all time. In addition, she was the most popular female jazz singer for more than 50 years and helped create the musical genre we know today.

Ella was born in Virginia, but she and her mother soon moved to New York. Ella had a happy childhood, playing baseball, dancing, and singing with her friends. She grew up in a mixed-race neighborhood, removed from the segregation experienced in other parts of the U.S.A. When Ella was 15, her life changed. Her mother died in a car accident. Ella moved in with her aunt, but never settled in. She was often in trouble with the police, spent time in reform school, and—during the Great Depression—was alone and broke. She would later say these experiences helped her music greatly.

ELLA’S BIG BREAK

In 1934, Ella got her break, when her name was picked at random to perform in Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater, in Manhattan. She had planned to dance, but at the last minute she decided to sing. The crowd booed young Ella as she came onto the stage—but as soon as she started singing, the crowd was hooked. They even asked for an encore. Ella, and her adoring audiences, never looked back. She went on to win numerous talent shows and was eventually hired to travel with Chick Webb’s band. As the big band sound moved into “bebop” jazz, Ella was at the forefront. She was the master of the new jazz sounds of bebop and scat. In 1938, Ella found fame through recording A-Tisket, A-Tasket. The album sold one million copies and hit the number-one spot.

UNITING AUDIENCES

A star in her own right, Ella performed with top jazz singers and musicians of the day, including Dizzie Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, and Count Basie. Ella became a regular on popular TV variety shows, including The Frank Sinatra Show, The Tonight Show, and The Ed Sullivan Show. At a time of troubled race relations, Ella was popular with both black and white audiences. Her voice brought together people of all backgrounds, religions, and nationalities; the fans loved her. Ella’s manager felt strongly that his musicians should be treated equally, regardless of their skin color, and his tours ensured there was no discrimination at hotels, restaurants, or venues. However, discrimination still reared its ugly head. The Mocambo was a very popular nightclub in West Hollywood in the 1950s, in spite of the fact it would not book non-white acts. Superstar Marilyn Monroe (see here) was a big fan of Ella’s and a supporter of civil rights. In 1955, Marilyn called the owner of the Mocambo, requesting that he book Ella immediately. For this, she said she would book a front-row table every night and the press would go wild. Marilyn stayed true to her word. Ella was able to sell out large venues, and her popularity rose. Ella went on to tour all over the world and played multiple shows at Carnegie Hall, in New York City.

THE QUEEN OF JAZZ

In total, Ella recorded more than 200 albums and sold more than 40 million records. She won hundreds of awards in her lifetime, including 13 Grammy Awards, as well as the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, in 1967. She was inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame in 1979. U.S. President Ronald Reagan gave her the National Medal of Arts, and France awarded her the Commander of Arts and Letters Award. She was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1992, Ella was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

In spite of a difficult childhood and severe ill health in her later years, Lady Ella remained strong and positive. Her talent was incredible, but so was her genuine drive to make the world a better place. One hundred years after her birth, Ella remains the Queen of Jazz and a monumental figure for everything she gave to the arts—and to the world.