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| Ella Fitzgerald | |
|---|---|
 photo by Carl Van Vechten, 1940 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ella Jane Fitzgerald |
| Also known as | First Lady of Song, Lady Ella |
| Born | April 25, 1917 Newport News, Virginia, U.S. |
| Origin | Yonkers, New York |
| Died | June 15, 1996 (aged 79) Beverly Hills, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Swing, traditional pop, vocal jazz |
| Occupations | Vocalist |
| Instruments | Piano Vocals |
| Years active | 1934–1993 |
| Labels | Capitol, Decca, Pablo, Reprise, Verve |
| Website | www.EllaFitzgerald.com |
Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 – June 15, 1996) also
known as
the "First Lady of Song"
and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and
popular song vocalist.[1] With a vocal range spanning
three octaves,
she was noted for her purity of
tone, impeccable diction, phrasing and
intonation,
and a "horn-like"
improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing.
She is widely considered one of the supreme interpreters of the Great
American Songbook.[2] Over a recording
career that lasted 59 years, she was the winner of 13 Grammy Awards and was awarded the National
Medal of Art by Ronald
Reagan and the Presidential
Medal of Freedom by
George H. W.
Bush.
Fitzgerald won fourteen Grammy awards, including
one for Lifetime
Achievement in 1967.
Other major awards and honors she received during her career were the Kennedy Center
for the Performing Arts Medal of Honor Award, National
Medal of Art, first Society of
Singers Lifetime Achievement
Award, named "Ella" in her honor, Presidential
Medal of Freedom,
and the George
and Ira
Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement, UCLA
Spring Sing.[10]
Ella Fitzgerald was a quiet but ardent supporter of many charities
and
non-profit organizations, including the American Heart Association and
the
United Negro College Fund. In 1993, she established the "Ella Fitzgerald
Charitable Foundation" which continues to fund programs that perpetuate
Ella's
ideals. (Please visit www.ellafitzgeraldfoundation.org to learn more
about Miss
Fitzgerald's charitable legacy).
[edit] Tributes
In 1997, Newport News,
Virginia created a music
festival with Christopher
Newport University to honor Ella Fitzgerald in her birth city. The Ella Fitzgerald Music
Festival
is designed to teach the region's youth of the musical legacy of
Fitzgerald and
jazz. Past performers at the week-long festival include: Diana Krall,
Arturo Sandoval,
Jean
Carne, Phil Woods, Aretha Franklin,
Freda
Payne, Cassandra Wilson,
Ethel
Ennis, David Sanborn, Jane
Monheit, Dianne Reeves, Dee Dee
Bridgewater, Ramsey Lewis, Patti
Austin, and Ann Hampton
Callaway
In 2008, the Downing-Gross Cultural Arts Center in Newport News named
its
brand new 276-seat theater the Ella Fitzgerald Theater. The theater is
located
several blocks away from her birthplace on Marshall Avenue. The Grand
Opening
performers (October 11 & 12, 2008) were Roberta Flack and Queen Esther
Marrow.