kwebtransPreview
Open in TheBrain

Fitzgerald, Ella

Name: Ella Fitzgerald

Nickname/Alias: "The First Lady of Song"

Achievements: One of the most influential jazz and pop singers of the twentieth century, particularly known for her improvized scat solos.

Born: April 25, 1918; Newport News, Virginia

Died: June 15, 1996; Beverly Hills, California (Aged 78)

Field & Discipline: Art; Music; Singer

Language: English

Father: William Fitzgerald (stepfather, Joseph Da Silva)

Mother: Temperance (Tempie) Williams

Siblings: Frances Da Silva (half-sister)

Spouse: 1) Benjamin Kornegay (annulled); 2) Ray Brown (divorced)

Children: Ray Brown, Jr.

Education: 2 years of high school

Life & Times:

Ella Fitzgerald was born in 1918 in Newport News, VA.  She spent her childhood in Yonkers,  NY with her mother and stepfather, where she was introduced to music at an early age.  She studied piano when the family had money to spare for her lessons, and enjoyed singing along to pop songs on the radio with her mother. 

When her mother died, fifteen-year-old Ella lived briefly with her aunt in Harlem before her excessive truancy caused her to be placed in an orphanage.  She ran away and found herself homeless and destitute, running numbers and acting as a police lookout for houses of prostitution. 

In 1934 she entered an amateur contest at the Harlem Opera House on a bet; she had drawn straws with her friends to decide who would go on stage.  Although Ella was initially planning to dance, she was so nervous she decided to sing a song instead.  Her rendition of "The Object of My Affection" won first prize and inspired her to enter the amateur contest at the Apollo Theatre. 

Her performance also won first prize at the Apollo,  and caught the attention of a member of Chick Webb's band, who insisted that his bandleader listen to Ella sing.  Webb, whose band played at the legendary Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, was so impressed with her voice that he hired her in 1935.  She was still a minor and homeless, so Webb and his wife became her legal guardians.  Under his guidance, Ella learned to sing with a big band and quickly became the Savoy's star attraction.

Although she began recording in 1935 and won her first Down Beat Magazine award for "Most Popular Girl Vocalist" in 1937, Fitzgerald's first major hit did not come until 1939, when she recorded "A Tisket, A Tasket" for Decca.  The song, now enshrined in the Grammy Hall of Fame, made her a swing-era celebrity. 

It was followed by a number of popular singles, including "Undecided," which helped earn her the nickname "The First Lady of Song."  When Chick Webb died in 1939, Ella took over direction of his band.  She led the group for two years, adding Dizzy Gillespie to her trumpet section for a tour in 1940. 

In the 1940s, Fitzgerald decided to concentrate on her solo career and the band members went their separate ways.  Ella made both commercial and jazz records, taking a major step in 1946 when she began her association with Norman Granz's "Jazz at the Philharmonic." 

This gave her the opportunity to improvise with progressive jazz artists such as Charlie Parker and Lester Young, and introduced her to an international audience.  In 1947 Dizzy Gillespie booked her for a six-week tour with his band, during which she blossomed as a bebop singer and met her future husband, bass player Ray Brown.  She sang with Brown's group from 1948-1952. 

Her performances with bop musicians emphasized her talents as a scat singer.  She had remarkable range and agility, and was known for her ability to imitate other singers as well as instrumental sounds.  Ella also began touring worldwide in 1948 with Norman Granz's support.  Her demand for equal pay with white artists would have an important effect on many musicians who came after her.

Fitzgerald severed her ties to Decca in 1956 and signed with Granz's new Verve label.  Her early projects for Verve included some of her most important and influential recordings, a series of "songbooks" dedicated to major American songwriters such as Cole Porter (1956), Duke Ellington (1956-1957), and [sang music of] George Gershwin* and [sang music of] Ira Gershwin* (1959). 

After listening to the five-LP Gershwin Songbooks, Ira remarked: "I never knew how good our songs were until I heard Ella Fitzgerald sing them."  Ella recorded nearly 300 songs for the Verve songbooks.  The series was extremely successful, attracting a wide audience and establishing her as a major interpreter of popular songs. 

August 1956 also saw the first of her highly successful recordings with her friend [a pal of] Louis Armstrong*: the album Ella and Louis, with Oscar Peterson, Buddy Rich, Herb Ellis, and Ray Brown.  It was a major hit, and the duo later recorded Ella and Louis Again and Porgy and Bess, in addition to their performances together.  Ella was one of the honorary pallbearers at Armstrong's funeral in 1971, along with [pallbearer with] Crosby*, Pearl Bailey, Johnny Carson, and Dizzy Gillespie. 

After the success of the Verve songbooks, Fitzgerald turned the management of her career over to Granz.  She continued to release both pop and jazz records, and Granz encouraged her to record her concerts as well.  Ella appeared frequently at jazz festivals with the great musicians of the day, including Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, and Oscar Peterson. 

She was granted a several honorary degrees and won numerous awards throughout her career, including the Kennedy Center Honor (1979), the National Medal of Arts (1987), France's Commander of Arts and Letters (1990) and fourteen Grammy Awards.  She was also the first woman and the first pop singer to receive the prestigious Lincoln Center Medallion. 

By the time of her death in 1996 at age 78, Fitzgerald had become one of the best-known and admired singers in the world.  Her virtuosity as a jazz musician rivaled the best instrumentalists, but she was equally influential as a singer of pop songs.  Ella Fitzgerald is recognized alongside Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan as one of the greatest female singers in the history of jazz.

Assessment:  Fitzgerald ranks as one of the most popular singers of the twentieth century; she performed with many of the great jazz musicians of her day, won numerous awards, and enjoyed one of the longest recording careers in history.

Oneliner: Ella Fitzgerald, great jazz singer

Bibliography:

Ella Fitzgerald - Wikipedia

Attachments