Ella Fitzgerald, also known as the First Lady of Song, the Queen of Jazz and Lady Ella, was undoubtedly one of the greatest, if not the most great, jazz singers of the 20th century. With a vocal range spanning three octaves, she was known for her purity of tone and her near-flawless phrasing and intonation. He could sing sensual ballads, sweet jazz and imitate every instrument in an orchestra. Over the course of a recording career that spanned nearly 60 years, she was the winner of thirteen Grammy Awards, sold more than 40 million albums, and received the National Medal of Art from President Ronald Reagan. His voice gave hope during the Harlem Renaissance and influenced many other American singers. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The Queen of Jazz was born as Ella Jane Fitzgerald in Newport News, Virginia, on April 25, 1917 to her father, William, and mother, Temperance, more commonly known as “Temple.” His parents eventually separated not long after his birth. Because of this, Tempie made the decision to move her and Ella to Yonkers, New York, where they would eventually stay with Tempie's longtime boyfriend, Joseph Da Silva, also known as Joe. A couple of years later, Ella's half-sister, Frances, was born in 1923. Ella began to accept Joseph as her father around this time, because he was the man who helped raise her. Due to financial difficulties, Joseph and Tempie worked two jobs. From time to time Ella took on various small jobs in an attempt to help her parents. A job was also for local gamblers as a runner who took bets and left money. Their apartment was in a mixed neighborhood and Ella was often involved in baseball games in the area. She loved dancing and singing with her friends and sometimes at the Apollo Theater they would take the train to Harlem to see various shows. In 1932, Tempie died after being seriously injured in a car accident. She endured the loss of her mother greatly. difficult. Tempie's sister Virginia took Ella home after staying with Joe for a while longer. Joe then suffered a heart attack shortly after his discharge and died. Her little sister Frances was later reunited with her. After the death of her parents, Ella became extremely sad and entered a difficult period in her life. His grades dropped dramatically and he often skipped school. After getting into trouble with the police, she was taken into custody and sent to a reformatory. There he would suffer beatings at the hands of his guardians. Ella eventually escaped from reform school and found herself broke and alone during the Great Depression, and she struggled to hang on. Never a complainer, Ella later reflected on her more difficult years appreciating how they helped her mature. She used memories of those times to gather emotions for performances and felt more grateful for her success because she knew what it meant to struggle in life. He made his debut at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York, at the age of 17 in 1934, where he won the opportunity to participate in one of the first of his famous "Amateur Nights". Initially, she intended to go on stage and dance, but was intimidated by the local dance duo "Edwards Sisters", she chose to sing in the style of her idol, Connie Boswell. That night he sang “Judy” and “The Object of My Affections” from Hoagy Carmichael and another Boswell Sisters song. Ella quickly calmed the audience down and they asked for an encore at the end of the song. Off stage and away from the people she knew well, Ella was shy and reserved. She was embarrassed by her appearance and doubted for a whileeven the strength of his abilities. However, on stage, Ella was surprised to find that she was not afraid. He felt at home in the spotlight. “Once up there, I felt the acceptance and love of my audience,” Ella said. 'I knew I wanted to sing in front of people for the rest of my life.' She won the chance to perform for a week with the Tiny Bradshaw band at the Harlem Opera House in January 1935. She first met Chick Webb, guitarist and bandleader. Webb had already hired singer Charlie Linton to perform with the group, so he offered Ella the opportunity to rehearse with his band when they got a booking to play for a dance at Yale University and then Webb hired her to travel with the band for $12.50 a week. In 1935, she began singing regularly with Webb's Orchestra at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. Fitzgerald recorded several hit songs with them, including "You'll Have to Swing It, Mr. Paganini" and "Love and Kisses" (their first recording), but it was her 1938 version of the nursery rhyme, "A-Tisket, A- Tasket', that won her mainstream acclaim . In fact, his first recording, Love and Kisses (released under the Decca label) achieved only moderate success. On June 16, 1939, with Ella as bandleader, Chick Webb died and his band was renamed Ella Fitzgerald and her Famous Orchestra. She began working regularly for jazz impresario Norman Granz and frequently performed at Philharmonic concerts. Fitzgerald's relationship with Granz strengthened further when he became her manager, although it would be nearly a decade before he was able to record her on one of his many record labels. With the end of the Swing era and the decline of major touring big band hits, a major change occurred in jazz music in this period. The rise of be-bop brought a major change in Fitzgerald's vocal style, influenced by his work with Dizzy Gillespie's big band. Around this time Fitzgerald began to include scat singing as an important part of his repertoire, as did his 1947 recordings of "Oh, Lady be Good!". The success of "How Big the Moon" and "Flying Back" increased his reputation as a singer. one of the most important singers of jazz. Perhaps responding to criticism and under pressure from Granz who felt that Fitzgerald was sometimes given unsuitable material to record during this period, his final years with the Decca label saw Fitzgerald recording a series of duets with pianist Ellis Larkins, published in 1950 as Ella Sings. Gershwin.Fitzgerald left the Decca label in 1955. She continued to perform at Granz's JATP concerts, and Granz, now her manager, founded the jazz record company, Verve, around her. In the mid-1950s, Ella became the first African American to perform at Mocambo, after Marilyn Monroe petitioned the owner for the booking. Booking was instrumental in Fitzgerald's career. In 2008, the incident became a play by Bonnie Greer. The eight "Songbooks" Fitzgerald recorded at irregular intervals between 1956 and 1964 for Verve reflected his most critically acclaimed and commercially successful work, and arguably his most important contribution to American culture and the Harlem Renaissance. The composers and lyricists on each album represent the majority of the cultural canon known as the Great American Songbook. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay In September 1986, Ella underwent quintuple coronary bypass surgery. She also had a heart valve replaced and was diagnosed with diabetes,.