Ella Fitzgerald – First Lady of Song
Ella Fitzgerald was born on April 25, 1917 in Virginia, but was raised in Yonkers by her mother, Temperance, and her mother’s boyfriend. When “Tempie” died in 1932, Ella suffered problems in her home and eventually ended up living on the streets in the fall of 1934. Her first sign of hope came in November, when she competed in the Apollo and won the first reward. Although she took some time due to her dirty and unkempt appearance, this victory led her to work with Chick Webb’s great orchestra at the Savoy. Chick slowly groomed Ella for success, she began experimenting with scat singing and, in January 1937, she was voted the best female Downbeat vocalist. She also began writing music and in 1943 she became the youngest member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP).
She scored her first hit in 1938 with ‘A Tiskit, A Tasket’. The song, written by Ella, sold over 1 million copies, stayed on the charts for 17 weeks, and was ranked No. 1 on the US Hit Parade. Later that year, she recorded her second hit, ‘ I Found My Yellow Basket’. A third hit, ‘Undecided’, followed in 1939. Unfortunately, tragedy struck when Chick succumbed to tuberculosis in June. The band continued with Ella as leader.
In 1940 Ella and the band toured 18,000 miles and 36 states. He was immensely popular; she won the Downbeat award for the fourth year in a row, was mobbed by fans in New Orleans, and was dubbed “the first lady of song.”
Sadly, fans are fickle. Ella’s record company, Decca, controlled much of her production and her influences were not always well received by her fans. With the start of World War II, all the gangs got smaller. By the following August, Chick Webb’s gang had disappeared.
After a brief lackluster period, Ella returned to success, garnering millions of copies in 1944 and 1945 with Ink Blots. It was around this time that Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie introduced the world to bop. She came to work with Dizzy, wholeheartedly embracing be-bop as she had in her early years. She also began to employ more scat singing, which became her signature technique.
While with Dizzy, Ella fell in love with Ray Brown, Dizzy’s bassist. Ray went on to work with Norman Granz, who produced Jazz at the Philharmonic (JATP) in Los Angeles. Granz offered Ella a contract and Ray and Ella were married soon after. Ray and Ella adopted a boy, Ray Jr., who was cared for by an aunt when they were away.
In addition to performing with JATP on tours in various countries in Europe, Ella and Ray became members of famed pianist Oscar Peterson’s trio. In 1953, Ella’s marriage to Ray was dissolved; regardless, they remained friends and continued to work together.
In 1954, Granz became Ella’s manager. Until that point, Ella had been earning the paltry wages that black musicians normally earned, but Granz, a staunch supporter of equal rights, paid Ella fairly. In 1956, Granz persuaded Decca to release Ella from her contract. Ella Fitzgerald recorded many successful pop albums on the Granz’ Verve label from 1956 to 1964, including the immensely popular 11-issue songbook series in which she sang the music of Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, the Gershwins, and Irving Berlin, among others.
She undertook an unprecedented number of national and international tours. She has also appeared on television variety shows, with hosts such as Bing Crosby, Dina Shore, Frank Sinatra, Ed Sullivan, Johnny Carson, Nat King Cole, Andy Williams, and Dean Martin. In 1958 she won her first two Grammy Awards.
In 1959, with America’s waning interest in jazz, Granz sold Verve to MGM. MGM dropped Verve’s jazz musicians with the exception of Ella, who continued to record and tour. However, five years later, MGM did not renew her contract. Ella’s later producers at Capitol and Reprise Records encouraged changes, including religious, country, and contemporary hits, but these forms proved not to be her forte.
As the years passed, rock music took over, and JATP’s last tour took place in 1967. However, in 1972 Granz returned to the United States to promote a concert with Ella. Granz revitalized himself and started a new record label, Pablo. She went back strictly to jazz and recorded 23 albums on this label.
She was a global superstar and her popularity never waned again. She toured far and wide, sometimes performing two shows in one day that were hundreds of miles apart. In 1985, Ella was still on tour forty weeks a year. Her three-octave voice, her flawless intonation, and her dazzling flexibility had barely changed.
In 1986, Ella had a heart attack and underwent coronary bypass surgery, but that didn’t stop Ella from returning to the stage. She made the last recording of her in 1989 and performed her last concert at Carnegie Hall in 1991. By 1994, Ella was fully retired. She passed away in June 1996.
By the time Ella’s career ended, she had recorded over 200 albums and 2,000 songs, and her record sales exceeded 40 million. Among her many awards and honors, she has won 13 Grammy Awards, received Kennedy Center Honors, the National Medal of Arts, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The long list of musicians she has influenced includes such household names as Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, Al Jarreau, Diana Ross, Dinah Washington, Tony Bennett, Janis Ian, Michael Buble, and Rosemary Clooney.
Andre Previn, conductor of the Royal London Philharmonic Orchestra, said of Ella: “She is unique and unrivaled, simply the best, and she transcends any of the so-called barriers that are supposed to exist between the various and disparate types of music.” Ultimately, that’s a complete way of stating that She truly is the First Lady of Song. Given all that Ella accomplished, it’s hard to imagine her title ever being passed down to someone else.