Ella Fitzgerald: The First Lady Of Song

Ella Fitzgerald, also known as “The First Lady of Song” or “Lady Ella”, was an extraordinary singer highly known in the Harlem Renaissance for her joyful scat singing. Born in Virginia then moving to New York, Fitzgerald grew up during the 1920s and got her breakthrough in the early 1930s. She joined an orchestra/band and produced her first number one single, “A-Tisket, A-Tasket”. Fitzgerald’s contributions to the Harlem Renaissance included her various styles of singing; style of singing that include swing and traditional pop. Fitzgerald is shaped into the woman that she once was through her background, accomplishments, challenges and hardships; she also leaves a legacy that would continue on to influence many generations to come. Born
Ella Jane Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald was born in Newport News, Virginia on April 25, 1917. Her mother, Temperance ‘Tempie’ Fitzgerald, and father, William Fitzgerald, soon divorced after her birth. When her father remarried, Ella and her mother migrated to Yonkers, New York with her mother’s boyfriend, Joseph da Saliva, and soon to be her half-sister, Francis. However, not everything went according to plan. Fitzgerald’s mother’s death in 1932 left 15-years-old Fitzgerald in a spiral of emotions such as depression and despair. Not long after that Fitzgerald’ stepfather died from a heart attack. Vulnerable and broken, Fitzgerald and her sister was then taken in by her aunt in Harlem. Not long has passed until she started to skip school and then eventually dropping out of high school. In addition, Fitzgerald ended up working as a lookout for a bordello and as a courier while at the same time struggling with the law. She was later placed in Riverdale Colored Orphan Asylum, where she ran away from. However, freedom did not last that long. That little escapade resulted in Fitzgerald enrollment into a tough reformatory near Albany, New York called New York State Training School for Girls. In 1934, Fitzgerald, age 17, participated in the Apollo Theater Amateur Night in Harlem. There Fitzgerald sung the songs “Judy” and “The Object of My Affection”. She left the crowd flabbergasted with her performance and won first place in the Apollo Theater’s contest. Among the crowd was bandleader and drummer Chick Webb. Webb soon recruited Fitzgerald for his orchestra/band who she recorded her first single “Love and Kisses” with in 1935. Later in 1935 Fitzgerald produced her first and second number one hit “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” and “I Found My Yellow Basket” respectively. Fitzgerald became the leader of Webb’s band, renamed Ella Fitzgerald and Her Orchestra, after his death in 1939. From the 1940s to the early 1990s, Fitzgerald will go on to be the first African American woman to receive a Grammy with twelve more to follow, produce over 200 albums and 2,000 songs, receive the NAACP Image Award for Lifetime Achievement, and receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. By the time she retired from her career in 1991, Ella Fitzgerald has gone through a series of challenges and hardships.
She did not only struggled with family issues, but she also struggled with the law and school in her teenage years. The year 1941 was the starting point for a whole new set of challenges for Ella. 1941 is the year Fitzgerald met and married Ben Kornegay, who happens to have a criminal record. Once Fitzgerald found out about the record, she soon had the marriage annulled. Upon traveling in a tour with Dizzy Gillespie’s band, Fitzgerald met and fell in love with bassist Ray Brown. They married in 1947 and eventually adopted Fitzgerald’s half-sister, Francis, son whom they named Ray Brown, Jr. In 1952, Fitzgerald and Brown divorced. She then had open heart surgery in 1986 and was suffering from with diabetes. By 1994, diabetes has taken her eyesight and both of her legs. Two years later, Fitzgerald died in Beverly Hills, California on June 15,
1996. Since her death in 1996, Fitzgerald’s legacy continued to have an impact on the generation in the future. For example, later in 1996 a tribute album was made featuring artists such as Gladys Knight, Etta James and Queen Latifa. The album was a collection of remakes of Fitzgerald’s classic songs. The United States Postal Service even honors the late singer with a commemorative stamp to celebrate her ninetieth birthday. There has been countless of numbers of contributions dedicated to Fitzgerald and her voice and legacy years after her death. As Fitzgerald once said, “It isn’t where you came from, it’s where you’re going that counts.” (Biography.com Editors) From her mother’s and stepfather’s death to her encampment in New York State Training School for Girls, Fitzgerald did not let her upbringing hold her back for pursuing her dreams of being a performer.
She would go on to join Chick Webb and his band to produce her first two number one singles. Still fighting toward the future, Fitzgerald went through two marriages, produced over 200 albums and won thirteen Grammies. She then struggled with health problems from 1986 until her death on June 15, 1996. Even after her death, Fitzgerald left a legacy that inspired the generation after her passing; thus, resulted in a tribute album dedicated to the late singer. Fitzgerald lived a life full of twist and turns, but she kept striving for the future. No matter what obstacles fate throws at her, Fitzgerald persevered through thick and thin to continue
forward.