1917-96 African-American Jazz Female Vocalist

She was a popular big band and solo artist. Principally a Jazz singer with a sweet and effortless style, she is a noted interpreter of the songs of George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern and Duke Ellington, among others. She had an amazing vocal range that included 2 and a half octaves. She had remarkable talent for scat singing.

She first came to the public's attention when she won a competition in New York as a teenager. She was subsequently hired to be the vocalist for Chick Webb's Jazz Big Band. After Chick Webb's tragic death in 1939, she continued to play and tour with the band for three years.

Among the songs she is famous for include:

Other musicians she performed with:

She died in Beverly Hills, California on June 15, 1996.

Source: http://www.geocities.com/Swing4243/ Last Updated 06.10.03

Ella Fitzgerald made her singing debut at the Harlem Apollo Theater amateur night in New York City in 1934. Her singing caught the attention of Chick Webb who conducted the Chick Webb Savoy Swing Orchestra. Chick took her on as his first female singer.

She was born in Newport News, Virginia in 1917. At age 15 she was placed in the Colored Orphan Asylum in Riverdale. She was later transferred to the New York State Training School for Girls, where there was wide-spread physical abuse. She ran away and was living on the streets of Harlem when she was discovered by Webb.

She married twice, first at 24 to Benjamin Kornegay and then at 30 to bass player Ray Brown. Both marriages ended in divorce. She also was diabetic. The disease compromised her vision, her circulatory system (both of her legs were amputated below the knee due to the disease) and eventually led to her death at the age of 79.

Her career spanned six decades and she achieved legendary success. She received awards including a Kennedy Center Award for her contributions to the performing arts, honorary doctorate degrees from Dartmouth and Yale, and thirteen Grammy Awards.

Despite little formal training, Ella had a three octave vocal range, textbook perfect technique, and an improvisational talent on par with that of the best jazz instrumentalists. She was known for her spontaneous, often pyrotechnic scat vocalizations.

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