Ella Fitzgerald was known as the “First Lady of Song” because of her long career of singing jazz, blues, pop, swing, and calypso. She is ranked the best jazz singers. She became famous for her ability to improvise using scat singing. Scat singing is when people sing using wordless syllables are sung instead of lyrics.
Ella Fitzgerald was born on April 25, 1917 in Newport News, Virginia. Ella’s parents William and Temperance Fitzgerald got separated shortly after her birth. When she was a child her father died and she moved to Yonkers, New York with her mother. Ella’s half sister Frances was born in 1923. After her mother’s death in 1932 Ella moved in with her aunt. In 1935 she won an amateur talent contest. After she won the singing contest a bandleader and drummer named Chick Webb asked her to join his band. She eventually joined his band as a singer. In 1938 Ella released her first hit, “A Tisket A Tasket.” She also performed with the Benny Goodman Orchestra. In 1939 when Chick Webb died Ella took over the band and renamed it Ella Fitzgerald and Her Famous Orchestra.
Ella Fitzgerald got married to Ben Korngay in 1941, but they soon got divorced. Ella Fitzgerald went on tour with Dizzy Gillespie and his band. While she was on tour with him Ella started changing her singing style, and began singing scat during her performances. She also fell in love with the band’s bassist Ray Brown. Then in 1947 she got married to Ray Brown. They adopted a child from Ella’s half sister and they named him Raymond Brown Jr. They got divorced in 1952. At the very first Grammy Awards in 1958 Ella got two Grammy awards and was and the first African American woman to win a Grammy award. In 1987 the United States president, Ronald Reagan awarded Ella the National Medal of Arts. Several years later France awarded Ella with their Commander of Arts and Letters award. In 1986 Ella Fitzgerald had a disease which had left her blind. In 1994 she had both of her legs amputated. Ella Fitzgerald died on June 15, 1996 in Beverly Hills.
References: Cook, Eddie. "Fitzgerald, Ella." World Book Student. World Book, 2016. Web. 9 May 2016."Fitzgerald, Ella." America the Beautiful. Grolier Online, 2016. Web. 9 May. 2016 BY: Zoey Fleishman