Ella Jane Fitzgerald delivered music fans ninety CDs over the course of fifty years, including solo and collaboration recordings with other international musicians. Forty million recordings were purchased by fans of the singer during her career. The practice of inviting Lady Jazz to performances in the White House was established in the 1950s. The 13-time Grammy winner and the owner of all other notable honors has established herself as a legend in the field of jazz, and vocalists and music enthusiasts alike are familiar with her name.
Early Life and Adolescence
In the spring of 1917, Lady Jazz was born in Newport News. Ella’s parents are of Irish and African American descent. On a forklift, William Fitzgerald operated. Shortly after Ella Jane was born, he separated from his common-law wife, Tempie, a laundress, who was 23 years old. Temperance fled to the wealthier Yonkers in southeast New York with her small daughter in order to survive.
The mother met a Portuguese immigrant in Yonkers, and six years later Ella gave birth to Frances, her half-sister. Every Sunday, the pious family went to Methodist church services. Here, Ella Fitzgerald made her stage debut, paying close attention to the dark-skinned church singers as they performed gospels, a type of spiritual African-American music.
Her mother’s and stepfather’s income barely covered rent and food expenses. However, the oldest daughter grew up to be a happy youngster who only saw the positive aspects of the world. Ella Fitzgerald had a lifelong interest in sports, dance, music, and movies. The future star would learn songs on her own and perform them one-on-one while listening to Connie Boswell CDs. Ella, like many of the darker-skinned kids in the yard, was a gifted dancer and thought that dancing would be her career.
Fitzgerald lost her mother to a heart attack when she was fourteen years old, leaving her an orphan. Ella gave up on her studies and quickly lost track of her route to school. The girl moved out of her parents’ house and lived with her aunt in Harlem as a result of her stepfather’s increasingly frequent scandals. The aspiring jazz singer never went back to school. The juvenile Ella Fitzgerald worked as a caregiver in a Harlem brothel to help bring money home, where she was exposed to the seedy side of life.
The girl quickly attracted the attention of the police and guardianship services. Ella Jane found up in a Bronx orphanage before being quickly moved to a girls’ boarding school. Fitzgerald, who loved freedom, ran away from the Hudson boarding school and ended up on the streets as going back to her aunt’s house would have been the same as going back to the boarding school.
Soundtrack
Ella Fitzgerald went back to her native Harlem to resume her career as a club dancer. She was given an opportunity by fate to break free from the clutches of poverty in November 1934 when eager dancers and singers submitted entries for an amateur competition that took place on the Apollo Theater stage in Harlem. Fitzgerald came to the competition having learned a dance, but the day before the show, she decided not to dance after learning that very formidable opponents would be there. Ella substituted a vocal performance for the dance piece.
Ella Fitzgerald only had one clothing for the performance, and it was hardly theatrical attire. When the girl entered the stage for the first time, she was startled to discover that her voice had disappeared. After encouraging the contestant and interjecting with a joke, the host granted her another shot. Ella sang the song Judy to such a degree that the crowd was in awe. Fitzgerald was declared the winner and awarded $25 along with a week-long engagement at the Apollo.
The creative biography of Ella Fitzgerald emerged piece by piece. When the singer was admitted into the renowned Chick Webb jazz orchestra in 1935, she successfully completed the first step. Vocalist Charles Linton sent the girl to the director for an audition because Webb trusted Linton to find a good voice.
Chick declined to try out after observing Ella in men’s shoes, disheveled and uncomfortable. However, Linton persisted, and Webb yielded. He signed a contract with the young vocalist after hearing him perform. Ella Fitzgerald recorded her debut album with Webb’s orchestra in the same year.
Fitzgerald began giving performances at the Apollo and the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem in the summer of 1935. People from all over the city flocked to the Savoy to hear Ella, and the ballroom quickly gained popularity. The singer’s light, dancing voice and understanding of rhythm astounded the seasoned musicians.
Music writers soon admired and glorified Fitzgerald’s unadulterated youthful voice in every manner possible. The public snapped up Ella’s new records, which she recorded with enviable regularity, right away. The singer started receiving invitations to appear on TV and radio shows.
Teddy Hill arranged for Fitzgerald to sing with his orchestra, and Benny Goodman invited her to appear on his show. However, Ella came back to see Webb a year later, recalling that he had made a difficult-to-get-to star out of an unknown Harlem girl.
For the final seven years of his life, the vocalist collaborated with Chick Webb. Ella assumed orchestra leadership following the maestro’s passing, but she returned to the stage in 1942 because she was driven to focus only on her singing. Ella Fitzgerald was a well-known pop singer at the time, and her records were selling like crazy. But jazz’s journey was far from over.
The vocalist listened to Louis Armstrong’s entrancing singing when she was younger and attempted, albeit not always successfully, to replicate what she heard. Ella Fitzgerald soon realized that instead of singing other people’s songs, she needed to carve out her own niche. The singer started learning how to improvise, and by the middle of the 1940s, she had transformed into a distinct vocalist who even had a different look.
Fitzgerald’s best years were after World War II, when trendy bebop took the place of traditional jazz. Jazz masterworks include Ella’s compositions Flying Home and Lady Be Good. Lady Jazz started her victorious journey throughout the globe in 1945. Soon after, Fitzgerald recorded the popular song All Of Me, which Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong had previously played.
Norman Granz, the manager, aided the performer in realizing her full jazz potential. He elevated jazz from a vocal genre to an art form in America and Europe. This individual was very important to Ella Fitzgerald. He handled the singer’s day-to-day issues, chose her songs and accompaniment, and freed Ella from outside distractions so she could concentrate on her work. Granz additionally made sure Ella’s fees were equal to those of white singers during the segregation era and spoke out against the limitations placed on African-American rights.
Summertime was a successful song that Ella Fitzgerald sang both alone and in a duet with Armstrong. Her single was included in the global jazz art treasury. It emerged during the next phase of the singer’s development when she chose to focus on Cole Porter and George Gershwin compositions as well as classical jazz standards. Verve Records is a record label that her promoter founded specifically for her.
Ella Fitzgerald had a lifelong passion for movies. She was able to get a leading role in the movie “Pete Kelly’s Blues” in 1955. The singer was invited to play Maggie Jackson by director Jack Webb. Although they didn’t warm up to the movie, critics agreed that the five minutes that Fitzgerald was on screen were worth watching.
Fitzgerald broke two records in the inaugural year of the Grammy Awards when she received two statuettes simultaneously for “Best Female Jazz Performance” and “Best Female Performance.” Ella was the first celebrity to win multiple Grammys simultaneously and the first black vocalist to be recognized with this honor.
However, Ella’s career did not always go as planned. She recorded the song Ringo Beat about Ringo Starr from The Beatles in 1965 in an attempt to find a hit, but the release confused her admirers with jazz lovers who did not take the Liverpudlians’ work seriously.
In a few instances, friends supported the performer. As a result, Marilyn Monroe helped Ella land a contract with the prestigious Mocambo club. According to legend, the actress assured the club’s owner that she would attend every concert her buddy did, which resulted in multiple increases in attendance. The artist immediately sold out of tickets for every show after that. In fact, there is a picture of the two stars that is from a previous time when they were acquainted.
The African-American star’s most productive years were the 1950s and 1960s. Ella’s friends and coworkers talked about Fitzgerald’s amazing productivity. She remained silent only when she was sleeping; otherwise, she would hum a song all the time, demonstrating different versions of it.
Even though Lady Ella had millions of dollars in her bank account in the 1960s, she realized that life had more purpose on stage than money. Ella Fitzgerald performed until her health and voice failed in the early 1990s. Her final public appearance was in 1992. The vocalist, who is 79 years old, has performed live for over 60 years.
Fitzgerald and Brown’s connection continued after their marriage ended because Ella’s adopted nephew kept them in touch. On stage, the ex-spouses carried on their partnership. Ray Brown Jr. became a well-known jazz musician by following in the footsteps of his adoptive parents.
Newspapers reported of Lady Jazz’s third marriage to musician Thor Larsen in the late 1950s, but there is no proof to support the rumors.
Demise
Ella Fitzgerald’s health began to decline in the middle of the 1970s, and a diabetes diagnosis was made. Even though the singer’s voice was fading, she bravely battled and went on stage.
The singer underwent her first—and not her last—heart surgery in 1986. She required four further bypass procedures. Her diabetes caused both of her legs to be amputated below the knees in 1993. Ella Fitzgerald, who had cataracts and became blind, moved into a wheelchair and retired to her Beverly Hills home.
Alice, her granddaughter, and her son Ray stuck by her side. The well-known person died in 1996. A stroke was the reason for the demise. The jazz musician was laid to rest in a Los Angeles cemetery located in Inglewood Park. She did not live to reach her 80th birthday.