Ella Fitzgerald: biography, best songs, interesting facts, listen

Ella fitzgerald

The life story of Ella Fitzgerald shows the best way that any undertaking with sufficient persistence will certainly make sense, even if initially all the circumstances are against you. The cult singer was able to conquer all with her simplicity and musical genius, with whom she was lucky to be born. But without due persistence her fate could have been completely different. Having given her life to the art of music, from early childhood she was passionate about everything that happened around her. Dancing, music, singing, sports - all this Ella surrendered without a trace, in order to finally realize her own destiny. Having chosen her fate, she was able to become a singer, who is still considered the greatest jazz legend of the 20th century.

short biography

Ella Fitzgerald was born in one of those small American cities that can hardly be found on the map - Newport News. It happened on April 25, 1917, in the state of Virginia. Her father, William, was not eager to document the relationship with the girl’s mother, Temperance, so they lived without a formal marriage. Perhaps the birth of a child influenced the fact that he soon left the family.

Due to strong feelings, mother and daughter leave home and move to another American town - Yonkers, where Temperance meets a man who becomes little Ella's stepfather. Soon, in 1923, Ella appears sister - Francis. Being very pious, they all attended church regularly and constantly studied the Bible.

When Ella was 14 years old, a terrible tragedy happened - her beloved mother died of a heart attack. Out of herself from the experience, the girl quarrels with her stepfather and leaves him for a relative - Aunt Virginia. Being completely unattended, Ella drops out of school and gets a job as a servant in a brothel, where she gradually begins to sink to the bottom of society. Constant communication with thieves and gangsters of various stripes had a detrimental effect on the girl. The police, after finding a homeless teen, identified her in an orphanage in the Bronx. Soon, she is transferred to a girls' boarding school located in the Hudson, but for a long time she doesn’t linger in it, preferring homeless life to strict rules.

In 1934, Ella Fitzgerald wanted to try her hand at dancing, choosing for this free competition Amateur Nights. Learning about very strong rival dancers, she changed her mind. This act fundamentally turned the whole life of Ella Fitzgerald. Remembering the favorite performer of childhood - Connie Boswell, the girl decided to sing the song "The Object of My Affection". The sympathetic-minded audience allowed Ella to perform two songs, although she lost her voice from strong emotion, and she had to start the first melody anew. Following the results of audience sympathy, she managed to get around her rivals. This moment can be considered her becoming as a singer, because for the victory she got the opportunity to perform in Apollo, the cultural and musical center of that time.

In early 1935, a key event for Ella takes place, and she is introduced to Chick Webb, a talented founder of a successful big band. Critically concerned with Ella, as a performer, he still signs an agreement with her, allowing the girl to perform with his orchestra. From this point on, Fitzgerald performs with Webb’s team, and when he dies in 1936, the singer takes his place, changing the name of the orchestra to “Ella and Her Famous Orchestr” (Ella and her Famous Orchestra).

Taking the direction of popular music, the team performed until 1942. Playing only pop music on demand from the public, they could not grow into something serious, so that the disintegration of the collective was quite predictable.

From this point on, the young singer decides to try her hand at a solo career and she manages to conclude a lucrative contract with the company "Decca Records". This collaboration brought to the world several of the greatest works performed by Ella, including Flying Home and Oh, Lady Be Good!

Since 1945, Fitzgerald has decided to grow even higher in his career. She breaks up with "Decca Records" and starts recording under a new brand - "Verve Records", created by manager Norman Granz especially for her. This time is truly golden for her. Fitzgerald improvises in different styles: jazz, bebop, pop, introducing in her singing the scat technique, which is truly masterly. The singer has gained incredible popularity, with which few could compete, giving dozens of concerts throughout America.

In 1972, the singer begins to cooperate with the label "Pablo Records", as the old - "Verve Records", was bought by the firm "MGM". Many of the songs recorded at this time, are considered the best in the work of the Fitzgerald.

Since 1993, Ella has ceased to speak and spends all her time in the house on Beverly Hills. Chained to a wheelchair, she enjoyed life to the very last day. In 1966, Ella Fitzgerald left our world.

Interesting Facts

• The singer was not tall - only 1 m 64 cm.
• She drew a significant share of her mastery from the notes of Connie Boswell, the favorite childhood singer. Trying to copy her style of performance, she considered her to be her muse.

• She won the Grammy Award 13 times.
• The Fitzgerald family were adherents of the Methodist Church and professed the religion of Methodism.
• If it were not for the stubbornness of Charles Linton, Ella would never have agreed to take on the first audition, her appearance was too unpresentable.
• The personal music archive of the singer is stored in the national library of the United States.
• She has repeatedly held and firmly held the top lines of the charts with her compositions, such as "Into Each Life Some Rain Must" and "I'm Making Believe".
• Since the mid-70s, the singer began to gradually lose the former charm of her voice. Despite this, she continued to perform, slightly changing the style of singing and making it more rigid and jerky.
• The unusually wide range of Fitzgerald covered almost 3 octaves. Not all opera singers could boast of such. Not surprisingly, many of them considered Ella to be an outstanding performer.
• Another master of jazz, Frank Sinatra, who became an admirer of her work, highly appreciated Ella's mastery.
• She earned her respectful nickname “The First Lady of Jazz” for her mastery and her masterly voice.
• Thanks to her outstanding hard work, she has recorded over 90 albums in her life.
• She starred in commercials, in particular, for the company "KFC".

• Fitzgerald was able to perfectly imitate the singing of Louis Armsrong.
• Performing not only jazz, but also its kind - bebop, Ella skillfully succeeded in improvisation, which is the basis for this style.
• At the end of her life, due to the diabetic foot syndrome, Ella developed gangrene, so that the doctors had to amputate both her legs.
• Sinatra and Fitzgerald talked together for a long time, but they never had a single joint project.
• She participated in charity, donating large sums of money to various organizations.
• The singer was awarded the gratitude and handshake of US President Ronald Reagan.
• In America, a postage stamp was issued to commemorate the performer.
• In the city of Newport News, there is a theater, named after the singer.

Best songs

"Love and kisses"- a bright composition with a classic improvisational introduction, held by different instruments, recorded in 1934 with the orchestra of Chick Webb.

"Love and Kisses" (listen)

"You'll Have to Swing It (Mr. Paganini)"- The improvisational song was recorded in 1934. It is here that Fitzgerald begins to use his scat technique.

"You'll Have to Swing It (Mr. Paganini)" (listen)

"A-Tisket, A-Tasket"- an uncomplicated song performed by Ella, which made her truly famous. A brilliant new arrangement on a simple song about a lost basket. A soft voice with bright accents leaves a truly unforgettable impression.

"I Found My Yellow Basket"- semantic continuation of the composition" A-Tisket, A-Tasket ", where Ella sings about the fact that the lost yellow basket was still found.

"Flying home"- one of the best songs of the singer. The arrangement was made by Vic Schoen in 1945, and this thing was recognized as an outstanding composition of the 40s.

"Flying Home" (listen)

"Oh, Lady Be Good!"- a lyric song that has become a hit, with great phrasing and performance.

"Oh, Lady Be Good!" (listen)

"Mack the knife"- this composition is sung by Ella so wonderful that the singer received two Grammy awards for her.

"Mack the Knife" (listen)

"Cry me a river"- a well-known composition composed by A. Hamilton in 1953, was written specifically for the voice of Ella Fitzgerald.

"Cry Me a River" (listen)

Famous Movies with Ella Fitzgerald

• Honolulu (1939);
• Improvisation (1950);
• Today (1952);
• Sunday Showcase (1959-1960);
• "The Tender Game" (1958);
• Amanti (1968);
• The Joe Bishop Show (1967-1969);
• "Remember When ..." (1981);
• Omnibus (1967-2003).

Difficult personal life "Lady Jazz"

Like many talented people, the singer's personal life was rather difficult. Severe childhood and youth led to the fact that Fitzgerald chose her partners among the disadvantaged elements of society. So, the first person with whom she officially tied her life was Benny Cornegay, a street vendor of illegal drugs who work in the port. The couple signed in 1941, but did not live together even two years.

The next attempt at marriage took place in 1947, and Ella approached the choice of the second half much more cautiously. Having become acquainted with the double bass player Ray Brown in 1946 and having met less than a year, the couple decided to officially sign. In addition, they adopted the son of Ella's half-sister, calling him Ray Brown Jr. Having lived in marriage for six years, Ella divorced her husband, as the constant workload left absolutely no time for joint support. They parted by mutual consent and continued to cooperate even after the divorce.

The third marriage is roughly dated 1957. Practically nothing is known about him, except that the Fitzgerald husband was a Norwegian named Thor Larsen. After some time, he committed theft, so the marriage was instantly annulled, since such news could negatively affect the singer's career. Any mention of him was immediately removed by Ella's manager Norman Granz.

Being rather reserved, modest and shy, Ella Fitzgerald never spread about her personal life. Only son Ray and his daughter Alice were near Fitzgerald in the last moments of her life.

Musical creativity

Surprisingly, Ella Fitzgerald would have remained a talented but unknown singer, if not for her will and desire for change. Having started working in the orchestra of Chick Webb, initially she was just a pop singer. Yes, she loved jazz, but did not perform it, and her songs were boring pop works.

Things have changed thanks to her manager Norman Granz. It was he who forced Ella to glow at any musical events and festivals dedicated to jazz, such as "Jazz at the Philharmonic", so that the public remembered her voice. At this time there is a serious division of jazz into two camps: the old conservative jazz and its new direction - bebop. Seeing this as an opportunity to conquer new peaks, Ella instantly becomes almost the most popular performer of the new style, achieving impressive results. All the seats for the performances were occupied by bebop performers, and classical jazz was in some oblivion.

Since 1956, Ella Fitzgerald has been working on a very brave project. Choosing works of poets and composers who were part of the Great American Songbook and are classics of the 20th century, Ella recorded 8 records that brought her world fame and a lot of money. Each plate was devoted to the work of one person, and the whole collection was highly appreciated by critics.

Ella begins bold experiments with style and form - she tries herself in various musical directions, using conventional and classical singing. Recording new albums, Ella has a huge success, giving concerts in many cities of America and Europe.

She dedicated her brilliant 1972 album "Nice Work If You Can Get It" D. Gershwin. She then creates another memorable entry "Ella Loves Cole", this time dedicated to Cole Porter. The last album, "Back on the Block", was recorded by the singer in 1989.

Continuing to speak, despite the increasingly fading health, Ella Fitzgerald to the last did not let the microphone out of her hands. Having undergone several surgeries and having serious vision problems due to cataracts, she last appeared in San Francisco in 1993, just three years before her death.

Working with jazz legends

Ella Fitzgerald, being a very talented and sought-after star of the scene, in her life met with many talented people. Thanks to her personal charisma, charisma and outstanding vocal abilities, co-recording with her was a dream for any musician. The legends of jazz music, the kings of jazz and swing - they all recorded with Ella joint compositions.

Louis Armstrong

Together with Ella Fitzgerald at the recording studio "Verve" they recorded three albums and several solo works. They highly appreciated each other's skills, so the duet of professionals worked wonderfully. They released an excellent example of canonical jazz music - "Ella and Louis", and a year later - the same brilliant disc "Ella and Louis Again". The third album included famous opera arias, written by George Gershwin for "Porgy and Bess"but arranged in new, original processing.

Duke Ellington

Ella began a joint collaboration with the Duke team in 1966, and the result of this fruitful collaboration can be considered two excellent albums: "The Stockholm Concert" and "Ella and Duke at the Cote D'Azur". The compositions, sung by the singer, gained recognition all over the world, and also became forever an eternal classic of jazz music. Himself Ellington wrote several arrangements for these albums, conducted the orchestra, and in some records even personally accompanied Ella on the piano. All works were recorded in France and Sweden, in just a few days, from 26 to 29 July.

Count Basie Orchestra

Collaborating with this team, Ella Fitzgerald gained the most popularity. Since 1957 and up to 1979, they conducted continuous concert activity and recorded as many as 6 albums. Beautiful arrangements, carefully selected composition of the big band and Ella's magnificent voice - all this ensured the incredible popularity of the singer.

The Ink Spots Group

Being very successful performers, this black quarter had a huge popularity and recognition among the public. At a time when Fitzgerald only tried to sing in the Apollo theater, hoping to win, these performers already had recognition, speaking in the same place. Thanks to the talent, many songs of these guys occupied the top lines of the charts and did not leave them for a very long time. Therefore, it is not surprising that when Fitzgerald recorded several songs with them (and this happened as much as 9 years after the start of the singer’s professional career), they instantly occupied the top of the charts. A total of 7 joint songs were recorded, and 4 of them firmly settled on all radio stations for several weeks.

In the history of jazz performance there are very few women who would leave behind such a rich legacy as Ella Fitzgerald. Like a fading comet, she broke into the musical world, and this trail has not gone out until now. Be a modest genius - and success will be yours. Here is a simple path that the singer followed. Living for the sake of music, she never stopped looking for new ways to express her inner world. Burning without a trace, she gave her love to the audience, often leaving no time for arranging her own life. But she did not expect sympathy, on the contrary, she lived only for the sake of the songs, for the sake of the stage, and for the love of the audience. Until the very last days, she remained a star - and everyone remembered her like this.

Her charming voice is considered to be one of the most vibrant and lively for the entire existence of jazz. In addition, the singer’s contribution to the development and promotion of jazz standards in world culture is truly invaluable. Having dedicated many of her albums to the work of outstanding musicians, she skillfully proved that jazz, performed with a soul, is also great music, and it can be no less beautiful and fascinating than the most famous classical works.