- Born
- 25 April 1917, Newport News, Virginia, United States
- First work
- 1935: Love and Kisses
- Peak
- 1950 to 1962 (estimated)
- Last work
- 1989: All That Jazz
- Died
- 15 August 1996, Beverly Hills, United States; aged 79; natural
Ella Fitzgerald
Music: singer, bandleader, United States
Ella Fitzgerald was an American jazz singer revered as the First Lady of Song. Born in Newport News, Virginia, in 1917, she launched her career after winning an amateur night contest at Harlem's Apollo Theater in 1934, soon fronting the Chick Webb Orchestra. Celebrated for her impeccable pitch, flexible phrasing and extraordinary scat singing, she became a master interpreter of the Great American Songbook across a series of landmark Verve albums during the 1950s. Her delightful recorded partnerships with Louis Armstrong proved equally unforgettable. Honoured with numerous Grammys and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Fitzgerald died of natural causes at her Beverly Hills home in June 1996 at seventy-nine.
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Signature works
- A-Tisket, A-Tasket song1938
- Ella Sings Gershwin album1950
- Ella and Louis album1956
- Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook album1956
- Porgy and Bess album1958
- Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook album1959
- Mack the Knife: Ella in Berlin album1960
Honours
- Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, 1967
- Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female, 1959
- Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1992
Groups: Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong.