Ella Fitzgerald was a highly acclaimed American singer, winning 20 Grammy Awards and contributing to child welfare causes. Born into poverty, she won a singing contest and joined the Webb Orchestra before singing her first hit, “A-Tisket, A-Tasket.” Fitzgerald’s career featured pop, swing, and jazz, and she is remembered for her varied abilities and perfect intonation. Her Great American Songbook series showcased her range and talent. Despite criticism of her emotional depth, her following grew over time. Fitzgerald faced discrimination and racism, but her music lives on.
Ella Fitzgerald is widely regarded as one of the best American singers of the 20th century. During her lifetime, Ella Fitzgerald won 20 Grammy Awards and was awarded the National Medal of Art by President Ronald Reagan. She has also recorded hundreds of records, performed with numerous well-known musicians in a wide range of genres, and contributed generously to child welfare causes.
Fitzgerald was born into poverty in 1917. She had a tumultuous childhood before performing in a singing concert at the Apollo Theater in New York. She won the contest, which turned out to be her fluke; shortly thereafter, Ella Fitzgerald joined the Webb Orchestra. In 1938, Ella Fitzgerald had sung her first hit, “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” an interpretation of the classic 19th-century nursery rhyme.
The early part of Ella Fitzgerald’s career featured a great deal of pop and swing, but the singer also branched out into jazz. Fitzgerald is well remembered for his incredibly varied singing abilities, as well as her perfect intonation and vocal clarity. Ella Fitzgerald was also a superb improv singer, and she is sometimes credited with perfecting the art of scatting, or singing nonsense syllables, to a new level.
Some critics say Ella Fitzgerald’s singing lacked emotional depth, and it’s true that her performances of classically singed songs are surprisingly upbeat. The “First Lady of Song” has hopped between several record labels, including Decca and Verve, and her following has only grown over time despite these criticisms of her work. A marked maturity emerges in her later recordings and it is possible that Ella Fitzgerald sang better when she had better material to work with.
One of Fitzgerald’s best-known projects is a series of recordings focusing on famous composers and lyricists, known collectively as the Great American Songbook. Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin and Duke Ellington were among the artists featured in Ella’s songbooks. The songbooks have showcased Ella’s formidable range, from pop to jazz, and are highly regarded by music historians and fans of 20th-century American music.
Ella Fitzgerald’s life and career demonstrate remarkable accomplishments for an African American who frequently faced discrimination and racism, even at the height of her fame. In 1996, Ella Fitzgerald succumbed to complications of diabetes and was buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery. Many of her personal papers have been donated to the US Historical Archives. Her music lives on and most of her albums continue to be readily available.
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