Editing Ella Fitzgerald

{{Short description|American jazz singer (1917–1996)}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Ella Fitzgerald
| image              = Ella Fitzgerald by Carl Van Vechten - American Flag (cropped).jpg
| alt                = Headshot of Ella Fitzgerald. She was a black woman with dark curly hair. She is a wearing a light green dress with a white flourish in the front. She is standing in front of an American flag.
| caption            = Fitzgerald in 1940
| birth_name         = Ella Jane Fitzgerald
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1917|4|25}}
| birth_place        = [[Newport News, Virginia]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1996|6|15|1917|4|25}}
| death_place        = [[Beverly Hills, California]], U.S.
| burial_place       = [[Inglewood Park Cemetery]]
| occupation         = {{hlist|Singer|songwriter|composer|bandleader}}
| spouse             = {{ubl
  | {{marriage|Benny Kornegay|1941|1942|end=annulled}}
  | {{marriage|[[Ray Brown (musician)|Ray Brown]]|1947|1953|end=divorced}}
  }}
| children           = [[Ray Brown Jr.]]
| relatives          = [[Christopher Williams (singer)|Christopher Williams]] (nephew)
| signature          = Signature Ella Fitzgerald.svg
| website            = {{Official URL}}
| module             = {{Infobox musical artist|embed=yes
<!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject Musicians -->
| genre              = {{hlist
  | [[Jazz]]
  | [[Swing music|swing]]
  | [[bebop]]
  | [[traditional pop]]
  | [[blues]]
  | [[Soul music|soul]]
  | [[doo-wop]]
  | [[post-bop]]
  }}
| instrument        = Vocals, piano
| discography       = {{hlist|[[Ella Fitzgerald albums discography|Albums]]|[[Ella Fitzgerald singles discography|singles]]}}
| years_active      = 1934–1993
| label             = {{hlist
  | [[Decca Records|Decca]]
  | [[Verve Records|Verve]]
  | [[Capitol Records|Capitol]]
  | [[Reprise Records|Reprise]]
  | [[Pablo Records|Pablo]]
  | [[His Master's Voice (British record label)|His Master's Voice]]
  }}
}}
}}
'''Ella Jane Fitzgerald''' (April{{nbsp}}25, 1917{{snd}}June{{nbsp}}15, 1996) was an American singer, songwriter and composer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable [[diction]], phrasing, timing, [[Intonation (music)|intonation]], [[absolute pitch]], and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her [[scat singing]].

After a tumultuous adolescence, Fitzgerald found stability in musical success with the [[Chick Webb]] Orchestra, performing across the country but most often associated with the [[Savoy Ballroom]] in [[Harlem]]. Her rendition of the nursery rhyme "[[A-Tisket, A-Tasket]]" helped boost both her and Webb to national fame. After taking over the band when Webb died, Fitzgerald left it behind in 1942 to start her solo career. Her manager was Moe Gale, co-founder of the Savoy,<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Savoy Ballroom opens |url=http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/the-savoy-ballroom-opens |access-date=October 29, 2016 |website=African American Registry}}</ref> until she turned the rest of her career over to [[Norman Granz]], who founded [[Verve Records]] to produce new records by Fitzgerald. With Verve, she recorded some of her more widely noted works, particularly her interpretations of the [[Great American Songbook]].

Fitzgerald also appeared in films and as a guest on popular television shows in the second half of the twentieth century. Outside her solo career, she created music with [[Louis Armstrong]], [[Duke Ellington]], and [[The Ink Spots]]. These partnerships produced songs such as "[[Dream a Little Dream of Me]]", "[[Cheek to Cheek]]", "[[Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall]]", and "[[It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)]]". In 1993, after a career of nearly sixty years, she gave her last public performance. Three years later, she died at age 79 after years of declining health. [[List of awards received by Ella Fitzgerald|Her accolades]] included 14 [[Grammy Awards]], the [[National Medal of Arts]], the [[NAACP]]'s inaugural [[NAACP Image Award – President's Award|President's Award]], and the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]].

==Early life and family==
Ella Jane Fitzgerald was born on April 25, 1917, in [[Newport News, Virginia]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 11, 2015 |title=Biography |url=http://www.ellafitzgerald.com/about/biography |access-date=December 21, 2018 |website=Ella Fitzgerald}}</ref> She was the daughter of William Ashland Fitzgerald, a transfer wagon driver from [[Blackstone, Virginia]], and Temperance "Tempie" Henry, both described as [[mulatto]] in the 1920 census.{{sfn|Nicholson|1996|p=4}} Her parents were unmarried but lived together in the [[East End (Newport News, Virginia)|East End section]] of Newport News<ref name="Whitaker 2011 p. 302">{{Cite book |last=Whitaker |first=Matthew |url={{Google books|RSGhEUq5bp0C|page=302|plainurl=yes}} |title=Icons of Black America: Breaking Barriers and Crossing Boundaries |publisher=Greenwood |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-313-37643-6 |volume=1 |location=Santa Barbara |page=302 |oclc=781709336}}</ref> for at least two and a half years after she was born. In the early 1920s, Fitzgerald's mother and her new partner, a Portuguese immigrant named Joseph da Silva,{{sfn|Nicholson|1996|p=4}} moved to [[Yonkers, New York]].{{sfn|Nicholson|1996|p=4}} Her half-sister, Frances da Silva, was born in 1923.{{sfn|Nicholson|1996|p=5}} By 1925, Fitzgerald and her family had moved to nearby School Street, a poor Italian area.{{sfn|Nicholson|1996|p=5}} She began her formal education at the age of six and was an outstanding student, moving through a variety of schools before attending Benjamin Franklin Junior High School in 1929.{{sfn|Nicholson|1996|pp=7, 13}}

She and her family were [[Methodists]] and were active in the Bethany [[African Methodist Episcopal Church]], where she attended worship services, [[Bible study (Christianity)|Bible study]], and Sunday school.{{sfn|Nicholson|1996|p=6}} The church provided Fitzgerald with her earliest experiences in music.{{sfn|Nicholson|1996|p=7}} Starting in third grade, Fitzgerald loved dancing and admired [[Earl Snakehips Tucker]]. She performed for her peers on the way to school and at lunchtime.{{sfn|Nicholson|1996|p=6}}

Fitzgerald listened to jazz recordings by [[Louis Armstrong]], [[Bing Crosby]], and [[The Boswell Sisters]]. She loved the Boswell Sisters' lead singer [[Connee Boswell]], later saying: "My mother brought home one of her records, and I fell in love with it...I tried so hard to sound just like her."<ref name="nyobit">{{Cite news |last=Holden |first=Stephen |date=June 16, 1996 |title=Ella Fitzgerald, the Voice of Jazz, Dies at 79 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/16/nyregion/ella-fitzgerald-the-voice-of-jazz-dies-at-79.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230626155432/https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/16/nyregion/ella-fitzgerald-the-voice-of-jazz-dies-at-79.html |archive-date=June 26, 2023 |access-date=March 23, 2015 |work=The New York Times}}</ref>

In 1932, when Fitzgerald was 15 years old, her mother died from injuries sustained in a car accident.<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 11, 2015 |title=Biography |url=http://www.ellafitzgerald.com/about/biography |access-date=February 7, 2018 |publisher=EllaFitzgerald.com (Official website)}}</ref> Fitzgerald's stepfather took care of her until April 1933 when she moved to Harlem to live with her aunt.{{sfn|Nicholson|1996|p=14}} This seemingly swift change in her circumstances, reinforced by what Fitzgerald biographer [[Stuart Nicholson (jazz historian)|Stuart Nicholson]] describes as rumors of "ill treatment" by her stepfather, leaves him to speculate that Da Silva might have abused her.{{sfn|Nicholson|1996|p=14}}

Fitzgerald began skipping school, and her grades suffered. She worked as a lookout at a [[Brothel|bordello]] and with a Mafia-affiliated [[Numbers game|numbers]] runner.<ref name="rich">{{Cite news |last=Rich |first=Frank |date=June 19, 1996 |title=Journal; How High the Moon |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/19/opinion/journal-how-high-the-moon.html |access-date=February 22, 2014 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> She never talked publicly about this time in her life.<ref name="ThisDay">{{Cite web |date=November 13, 2009 |title=Ella Fitzgerald is born |url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ella-fitzgerald-is-born |access-date=February 7, 2018 |publisher=[[History (U.S. TV network)|History]]}}</ref> When the authorities caught up with her, she was placed in the [[Colored Orphan Asylum]] in [[Riverdale, Bronx|Riverdale]] in [[The Bronx]].<ref name="Bernstein">{{Cite news |last=Bernstein |first=Nina |date=June 23, 1996 |title=Ward of the State; The Gap in Ella Fitzgerald's Life |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/23/weekinreview/ward-of-the-state-the-gap-in-ella-fitzgerald-s-life.html |access-date=February 22, 2014 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> When the orphanage proved too crowded, she was moved to the [[New York Training School for Girls]], a state reformatory school in [[Hudson, New York]].<ref name="Bernstein" />

==Career==

===Early career===
[[File:Ella Fitzgerald (1940).jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Black-and-white photograph of Fitzgerald, smiling at the camera.|A young Fitzgerald, photographed by [[Carl Van Vechten]] in January 1940]]

While she seems to have survived during 1933 and 1934 in part by singing on the streets of [[Harlem]], Fitzgerald debuted at the age of 17 on November 21, 1934, in one of the earliest [[Amateur Night at the Apollo|Amateur Nights]] at the [[Apollo Theater]].<ref name="FrittsVail2003">{{Cite book |last=Fritts |first=Ron |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W13y4UwnHIcC&pg=PA4 |title=Ella Fitzgerald: The Chick Webb Years & Beyond |last2=Vail |first2=Ken |publisher=[[Scarecrow Press]] |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8108-4881-8 |pages=4–6 |access-date=February 23, 2014}}</ref><ref name="Oliver2005">{{Cite book |last=Horton |first=James Oliver |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gVBrIZLlqcMC&pg=PA143 |title=Landmarks of African American History |date=2005 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-514118-4 |page=143 |access-date=February 23, 2014}}</ref> She had intended to go on stage and dance, but she was intimidated by a local dance duo called the Edwards Sisters and opted to sing instead.<ref name="Oliver2005" />{{sfn|Hemming|Hajdu|1991|p=97}} Performing in the style of [[Connee Boswell]], she sang "Judy" and "The Object of My Affection" and won first prize.<ref name="cnn">{{Cite news |last=Moret |first=Jim |date=June 15, 1996 |title='First Lady of Song' passes peacefully, surrounded by family |url=http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/9606/15/fitzgerald.obit/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061129231320/http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/9606/15/fitzgerald.obit/index.html |archive-date=November 29, 2006 |access-date=January 30, 2007 |work=[[CNN]]}}</ref> She won the chance to perform at the Apollo for a week but, seemingly because of her disheveled appearance, the theater never gave her that part of her prize.{{sfn|Nicholson|1996|p=19}}

In January 1935, Fitzgerald won the chance to perform for a week with the [[Tiny Bradshaw]] band at the [[Harlem Opera House]].<ref name="FrittsVail2003" /> Later that year, she was introduced to drummer and bandleader [[Chick Webb]] by [[Bardu Ali]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 24, 2014 |title=5 South Asian American Entertainers You May Not Know About |url=https://www.saada.org/tides/article/5-south-asian-american-entertainers |website=SAADA (South Asian American Digital Archive)}}</ref> Although "reluctant to sign her...because she was gawky and unkempt, a 'diamond in the rough,'"<ref name="nyobit" /> after some convincing by Ali, Webb offered her the opportunity to test with his band at a dance at [[Yale University]].<ref name="FrittsVail2003" />

Met with approval by both audiences and her fellow musicians, Fitzgerald was asked to join Webb's orchestra and gained acclaim as part of the group's performances at Harlem's [[Savoy Ballroom]].<ref name="FrittsVail2003" /> Fitzgerald recorded several hit songs, including "Love and Kisses" and "[[(If You Can't Sing It) You'll Have to Swing It (Mr. Paganini)]]".<ref name="FrittsVail2003" /> But it was her 1938 version of the nursery rhyme, "[[A-Tisket, A-Tasket]]", a song she co-wrote, that brought her public acclaim. "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" became a major hit on the radio and was also one of the biggest-selling records of the decade.{{sfn |Hemming |Hajdu |1991|p=97}}<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Robinson |first=Louie |date=November 1961 |title=First Lady of Jazz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=89YDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA131 |access-date=October 10, 2014 |magazine=[[Ebony (magazine)|Ebony]] |pages=131–132, 139 |volume=17 |issue=1 |issn=0012-9011}}</ref>

Webb died of [[spinal tuberculosis]] on June 16, 1939,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Otfinoski |first=Steven |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gnXQSqTx2h0C&pg=PT251 |title=African Americans in the Performing Arts |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-4381-2855-9 |page=251 |access-date=February 23, 2014}}</ref> and his band was renamed Ella Fitzgerald and Her Famous Orchestra, with Fitzgerald taking on the role of bandleader.<ref>{{Cite book |last=James |first=Edward T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WSaMu4F06AQC&pg=PA210 |title=Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary |last2=James |first2=Janet Wilson |last3=Boyer |first3=Paul S. |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-674-01488-6 |page=210 |access-date=February 23, 2014}}</ref> Ella and the band recorded for [[Decca Records|Decca]] and appeared at the [[Roseland Ballroom]], where they received national exposure on [[National Broadcasting Company|NBC]] radio broadcasts.

She recorded nearly 150 songs with Webb's orchestra between 1935 and 1942. In addition to her work with Webb, Fitzgerald performed and recorded with the Benny Goodman Orchestra. She had her own side project, too, known as Ella Fitzgerald and Her Savoy Eight.{{sfn|Nicholson|2004|p=44}}

===Decca years===
[[File:Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Brown, Milt Jackson, and Timmie Rosenkrantz, Downbeat, New York, N.Y., ca. Sept. 1947 (William P. Gottlieb).jpg|thumb|alt=Fitzegeral is singing with a microphone inside a jazz club. Ray Brown stands behind her; Dizzy Gillespie and Milt Jackson sit in a table in the background; and Timme Roesenkratz in the foreground.|Fitzgerald with [[Dizzy Gillespie]], [[Ray Brown (musician)|Ray Brown]], [[Milt Jackson]], and [[Timme Rosenkrantz]] in New York City, 1947]]

In 1942, with increasing dissent and money concerns in Fitzgerald's band, Ella Fitzgerald and Her Famous Orchestra, she started to work as lead singer with The Three Keys, and in July her band played their last concert at Earl Theatre in Philadelphia.<ref>{{Cite book |last=[[Stuart Nicholson (jazz historian)|Stuart Nicholson]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M1QSBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA74 |title=Ella Fitzgerald: A Biography of the First Lady of Jazz |publisher=Routledge |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-136-78814-7 |page=74}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Humphrey |first=Harold |date=April 4, 1942 |title=New Notes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HAwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT66 |access-date=October 10, 2014 |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|The Billboard]] |page=67 |volume=54 |issue=14 |issn=0006-2510}}</ref> While working for [[Decca Records]], she had hits with [[Bill Kenny (singer)|Bill Kenny]] & [[the Ink Spots]],<ref name="goldberg">{{Cite book |last=Goldberg |first=Marv |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WXLGAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA125 |title=More Than Words Can Say: The Ink Spots and Their Music |date=1998 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-1-4616-6972-2 |page=125}}</ref> [[Louis Jordan]],<ref name="tyler">{{Cite book |last=Tyler |first=Don |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hSCfBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA304 |title=Hit Songs, 1900–1955: American Popular Music of the Pre-Rock Era |date=2007 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-2946-2 |page=304}}</ref> and [[the Delta Rhythm Boys]].<ref name="billboard07Dec46">{{Cite magazine |date=December 7, 1946 |title=Coming Up |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vBoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT27 |magazine=The Billboard |page=27}}</ref> Producer [[Norman Granz]] became her manager in the mid-1940s after she began singing for [[Jazz at the Philharmonic]], a concert series begun by Granz.

With the demise of the [[swing era]] and the decline of the great touring [[big band]]s, a major change in jazz music occurred. The advent of [[bebop]] led to new developments in Fitzgerald's vocal style, influenced by her work with [[Dizzy Gillespie]]'s big band. It was in this period that Fitzgerald started including [[scat singing]] as a major part of her performance repertoire. While singing with Gillespie, Fitzgerald recalled: "I just tried to do [with my voice] what I heard the horns in the band doing."<ref name="cnn" />

Her 1945 scat recording of "[[Flying Home]]" arranged by [[Vic Schoen]] would later be described by ''[[The New York Times]]'' as "one of the most influential vocal jazz records of the decade....Where other singers, most notably Louis Armstrong, had tried similar improvisation, no one before Miss Fitzgerald employed the technique with such dazzling inventiveness."<ref name="nyobit" /> Her bebop recording of "[[Oh, Lady Be Good!]]" (1947) was similarly popular and increased her reputation as one of the leading jazz vocalists.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gioia |first=Ted |author-link=Ted Gioia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dVwGAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA307 |title=The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-993739-4 |page=307 |access-date=October 11, 2014}}</ref>

===Verve years===
[[File:Ella Fitzgerald at the Paul Masson Winery, 1986.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|alt=Fitzgerald is speaking into a microphone outside outside a winery.|Fitzgerald at the Paul Masson Winery, [[Saratoga, California]], in 1986]]

Fitzgerald made her first tour of [[Australia]] in July 1954 for the Australian-based American promoter [[Lee Gordon (promoter)|Lee Gordon]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stratton |first=Jon |date=September 2007 |title='All Rock and Rhythm and Jazz': Rock 'n' Roll Origin Stories and Race in Australia |journal=Continuum |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=379–392 |doi=10.1080/10304310701460730 |s2cid=143360217 |hdl-access=free |hdl=20.500.11937/39207}}</ref> This was the first of Gordon's famous "Big Show" promotions and the "package" tour also included [[Buddy Rich]], [[Artie Shaw]] and comedian [[Jerry Colonna (entertainer)|Jerry Colonna]].

Although the tour was a big hit with audiences and set a new box office record for Australia, it was marred by an incident of racial discrimination that caused Fitzgerald to miss the first two concerts in [[Sydney]], and Gordon had to arrange two later free concerts to compensate ticket holders. Although the four members of Fitzgerald's entourage – Fitzgerald, her pianist [[John Lewis (pianist)|John Lewis]], her assistant (and cousin) Georgiana Henry, and manager Norman Granz – all had first-class tickets on their scheduled [[Pan-American Airlines]] flight from Honolulu to Australia, they were ordered to leave the aircraft after they had already boarded and were refused permission to re-board the aircraft to retrieve their luggage and clothing. As a result, they were stranded in [[Honolulu]] for three days before they could get another flight to Sydney. Although a contemporary Australian press report<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 24, 1954 |title='Stop the music,' said Artie Shaw |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/23419892 |access-date=February 7, 2018 |work=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |page=3 |via=[[National Library of Australia]]}}</ref> quoted an Australian Pan-Am spokesperson who denied that the incident was racially based, Fitzgerald, Henry, Lewis and Granz filed a civil suit for racial discrimination against [[Pan Am|Pan-Am]] in December 1954,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Complaint, ''Ella Fitzgerald et al v. Pan American'', December 23, 1954 |url=https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/documented-rights/exhibit/section4/detail/fitzgerald-complaint-transcript.html |access-date=February 7, 2018 |publisher=[[National Archives and Records Administration]]}}</ref> which they won on appeal in January 1956.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Judgment in the Case of Fitzgerald v. Pan American World Airways |url=https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/fitzgerald-judgment |website=Docs Teach}}</ref> In a 1970 television interview Fitzgerald said they received what she described as a "nice settlement".<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 25, 2017 |title=Ella Fitzgerald Sues Airline for Discrimination (1970) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2bnuByFa1M |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/V2bnuByFa1M |archive-date=December 11, 2021 |access-date=February 7, 2018 |publisher=[[CBC News]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Fitzgerald was still performing at Granz's [[Jazz at the Philharmonic]] (JATP) concerts by 1955. She left Decca, and Granz, now her manager, created [[Verve Records]] around her. She later described the period as strategically crucial, saying: "I had gotten to the point where I was only singing be-bop. I thought be-bop was 'it', and that all I had to do was go some place and sing bop. But it finally got to the point where I had no place to sing. I realized then that there was more to music than bop. Norman ... felt that I should do other things, so he produced ''[[Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book]]'' with me. It was a turning point in my life."<ref name="nyobit" />

On March 15, 1955, Ella Fitzgerald opened her initial engagement at the [[Mocambo (nightclub)|Mocambo]] nightclub in Hollywood,<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=March 12, 1955 |title=Talent topics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mx4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA24 |access-date=February 8, 2018 |magazine=The Billboard |page=24 |issn=0006-2510}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |date=April 7, 1955 |title=Ella Fitzgerald a big hit |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-bEDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA60 |access-date=February 8, 2018 |magazine=Jet |page=60 |volume=7 |issue=22 |issn=0021-5996}}</ref> after [[Marilyn Monroe]] lobbied the owner for the booking.{{sfn |Nicholson |2004 |p=149}} The booking was instrumental in Fitzgerald's career. [[Bonnie Greer]] dramatized the incident as the musical drama, ''[[Marilyn and Ella]]'', in 2008. It had previously been widely reported that Fitzgerald was the first black performer to play the Mocambo, following Monroe's intervention, but this is not true. African-American singers [[Herb Jeffries]],<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=August 13, 1953 |title=Jet |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nEIDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA60 |access-date=August 16, 2013 |magazine=Jet |page=60 |issn=0021-5996}}</ref> [[Eartha Kitt]],<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=December 10, 1953 |title=Jet |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=078DAAAAMBAJ |access-date=August 16, 2013 |magazine=Jet |issn=0021-5996}}</ref> and [[Joyce Bryant]]<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=November 12, 1953 |title=Jet |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0L8DAAAAMBAJ |access-date=August 16, 2013 |magazine=Jet |issn=0021-5996}}</ref> all played the Mocambo in 1952 and 1953, according to stories published at the time in ''[[Jet (magazine)|Jet]]'' magazine and ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]''.

''[[Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book]]'', released in 1956, was the first of eight "Song Book" sets Fitzgerald would record for Verve at irregular intervals from 1956 to 1964. The composers and lyricists spotlighted on each set, taken together, represent the greatest part of the cultural canon known as the ''[[Great American Songbook]]''. Her song selections ranged from standards to rarities and represented an attempt by Fitzgerald to cross over into a non-jazz audience. The sets are the most well-known items in her discography and by 1956 Fitzgerald's recordings were showcased nationally by [[Ben Selvin]] within the [[RCA Thesaurus]] transcription library.<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 18, 1956 |title=Billboard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iwoEAAAAMBAJ&dq=Ben+Selvin+RCA+Thesaurus&pg=PA39 |publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc. |via=Google Books}}</ref> 

[[File:Ella Fitzgerald 1968.jpg|thumb|upright|right|alt=Refer to caption|Signed autograph of Fitzgerald in 1968, courtesy of the [[Fraser MacPherson]] estate]]

''[[Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book]]'' was the only Song Book on which the composer she interpreted played with her. [[Duke Ellington]] and his longtime collaborator [[Billy Strayhorn]] both appeared on exactly half the set's 38 tracks and wrote two new pieces of music for the album: "The E and D Blues" and a four-movement musical portrait of Fitzgerald. The Song Book series ended up becoming Fitzgerald's most critically acclaimed and commercially successful work, and probably her most significant offering to American culture. ''The New York Times'' wrote in 1996, "These albums were among the first pop records to devote such serious attention to individual songwriters, and they were instrumental in establishing the pop album as a vehicle for serious musical exploration."<ref name="nyobit" />

Days after Fitzgerald's death, ''The New York Times'' columnist [[Frank Rich]] wrote that in the Song Book series Fitzgerald "performed a cultural transaction as extraordinary as [[Elvis Presley|Elvis]]' contemporaneous integration of white and [[African-American]] soul. Here was a black woman popularizing urban songs often written by immigrant Jews to a national audience of predominantly white Christians."<ref name="rich" /> [[Frank Sinatra]], out of respect for Fitzgerald, prohibited [[Capitol Records]] from re-releasing his own recordings in separate albums for individual composers in the same way.{{citation needed|date=September 2014}}

Fitzgerald also recorded albums exclusively devoted to the songs of Porter and [[George Gershwin|Gershwin]] in 1972 and 1983; the albums being, respectively, ''[[Ella Loves Cole]]'' and ''[[Nice Work If You Can Get It (album)|Nice Work If You Can Get It]]''. A later collection devoted to a single composer was released during her time with [[Pablo Records]], ''[[Ella Abraça Jobim]]'', featuring the songs of [[Antônio Carlos Jobim]].

While recording the Song Books and the occasional studio album, Fitzgerald toured 40 to 45 weeks per year in the United States and internationally, under the tutelage of Norman Granz. Granz helped solidify her position as one of the leading live jazz performers.<ref name="nyobit" /> In 1961 Fitzgerald bought a house in the [[Klampenborg]] district of Copenhagen, Denmark, after she began a relationship with a Danish man. Though the relationship ended after a year, Fitzgerald regularly returned to Denmark over the next three years and even considered buying a jazz club there. The house was sold in 1963, and Fitzgerald permanently returned to the United States.{{sfn|Nicholson|1996|p=198}}

[[File:Ella-Fitzgerald-in-Helsinki-1963.jpg|thumb|alt=Refer to caption|Fitzgerald performing at the [[Helsinki Culture Hall]] in Finland in April 1963]]

There are several live albums on Verve that are highly regarded by critics. ''[[At the Opera House]]'' shows a typical Jazz at the Philharmonic set from Fitzgerald. ''[[Ella in Rome: The Birthday Concert|Ella in Rome]]'' and ''[[Twelve Nights in Hollywood]]'' display her vocal jazz canon. ''[[Ella in Berlin: Mack the Knife|Ella in Berlin]]'' is still one of her best-selling albums; it includes a Grammy-winning performance of "[[Mack the Knife]]" in which she forgets the lyrics but improvises to compensate.

Verve Records was sold to [[MGM Records|MGM]] in 1960 for $3 million and in 1967 MGM failed to renew Fitzgerald's contract. Over the next five years she flitted between [[Atlantic Records|Atlantic]], [[Capitol Records|Capitol]] and [[Reprise Records|Reprise]]. Her material at this time represented a departure from her typical jazz repertoire. For Capitol she recorded ''[[Brighten the Corner]]'', an album of [[hymn]]s, ''[[Ella Fitzgerald's Christmas]]'', an album of traditional [[Christmas carol]]s, ''[[Misty Blue (album)|Misty Blue]]'', a [[country and western]]-influenced album, and ''[[30 by Ella]]'', a series of six medleys that fulfilled her obligations for the label. During this period, she had her last US chart single with a cover of [[Smokey Robinson]]'s "[[Get Ready (The Temptations song)|Get Ready]]", previously a hit for [[the Temptations]], and some months later a top-five hit for [[Get Ready (The Temptations song)#Rare Earth version|Rare Earth]].

The surprise success of the 1972 album ''[[Jazz at Santa Monica Civic '72]]'' led Granz to found [[Pablo Records]], his first record label since the sale of Verve. Fitzgerald recorded some 20 albums for the label. ''[[Ella in London]]'' recorded live in 1974 with pianist [[Tommy Flanagan (musician)|Tommy Flanagan]], guitarist [[Joe Pass]], bassist Keter Betts and drummer Bobby Durham, was considered by many to be some of her best work. The following year she again performed with Joe Pass on German television station [[Norddeutscher Rundfunk|NDR]] in [[Hamburg]]. Her years with Pablo Records also documented the decline in her voice. "She frequently used shorter, stabbing phrases, and her voice was harder, with a wider vibrato", one biographer wrote.<ref name="Nicholson">{{harvnb |Nicholson |2004}} ''"For many years Fitzgerald's birthdate was thought to be on the same date one year later in 1918 – and it is still listed as such in some sources – but research by Nicholson and another biographer, Tanya Lee Stone, established 1917 as the correct year of birth."''</ref> Plagued by health problems, Fitzgerald made her last recording in 1991 and her last public performances in 1993.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Davies |first=Hugh |date=December 31, 2005 |title=Sir Johnny up there with the Count and the Duke |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1506681/Sir-Johnny-up-there-with-the-Count-and-the-Duke.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1506681/Sir-Johnny-up-there-with-the-Count-and-the-Duke.html |archive-date=January 11, 2022 |access-date=March 16, 2007 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |location=London}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

==Film and television==
[[File:President Ronald Reagan and Ella Fitzgerald.jpg|thumb|alt=Refer to caption|Fitzgerald shakes hands with [[President the United States|President]] [[Ronald Reagan]] after performing in the [[White House]] in 1981.]]
Fitzgerald played the part of singer Maggie Jackson in [[Jack Webb]]'s 1955 jazz film ''[[Pete Kelly's Blues (film)|Pete Kelly's Blues]]''.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=August 25, 1955 |title=Movie of the week: Pete Kelly's Blues |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vbEDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA62 |access-date=February 23, 2014 |magazine=Jet |page=62 |issn=0021-5996}}</ref> The film costarred [[Janet Leigh]] and singer [[Peggy Lee]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Capua |first=Michelangelo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NRlfe8948H4C&pg=PA176 |title=Janet Leigh: A Biography |date=March 8, 2013 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-7022-8 |page=176 |access-date=February 23, 2014}}</ref> Even though she had already worked in the movies (she sang two songs in the 1942 [[Abbott and Costello]] film ''[[Ride 'Em Cowboy (1942 film)|Ride 'Em Cowboy]]''),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Furia |first=Philip |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1NVcYC2cHk4C&pg=PA174 |title=The Songs of Hollywood |last2=Patterson |first2=Laurie |date=March 10, 2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-979266-5 |page=174 |access-date=February 23, 2014}}</ref> she was "delighted" when Norman Granz negotiated the role for her, and, "at the time ... considered her role in the [[Warner Brothers]] movie the biggest thing ever to have happened to her."<ref name="Nicholson" /> Amid ''The New York Times'' pan of the film when it opened in August 1955, the reviewer wrote, "About five minutes (out of ninety-five) suggest the picture this might have been. Take the ingenious prologue ... [or] take the fleeting scenes when the wonderful Ella Fitzgerald, allotted a few spoken lines, fills the screen and sound track with her strong mobile features and voice."<ref name="Webb">{{Cite news |last=Manohla |first=Dargis |date=August 10, 1955 |title=Webb Plays the Blues |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1955/08/19/archives/webb-plays-the-blues.html |access-date=July 24, 2018 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>

After ''Pete Kelly's Blues'', she appeared in sporadic movie cameos, in ''[[St. Louis Blues (1958 film)|St. Louis Blues]]'' (1958)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Storb |first=Ilse |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=40FU7dEiB78C&pg=PA61 |title=Jazz Meets the World – The World Meets Jazz |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |year=2000 |isbn=978-3-8258-3748-8 |page=61 |language=de |access-date=February 23, 2014}}</ref> and ''[[Ella Fitzgerald Sings Songs from "Let No Man Write My Epitaph"|Let No Man Write My Epitaph]]'' (1960).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Croix |first=St. Sukie de la |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=44lheqlq-jYC&pg=PA213 |title=Chicago Whispers: A History of LGBT Chicago before Stonewall |date=July 11, 2012 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |isbn=978-0-299-28693-4 |page=213 |access-date=February 23, 2014}}</ref>

She made numerous guest appearances on television shows, singing on ''[[The Frank Sinatra Show (1950 TV series)|The Frank Sinatra Show]]'', ''[[The Carol Burnett Show]]'', ''[[The Andy Williams Show]]'', {{ill|The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom|qid=Q7756311|short=yes|italic=yes}}, and alongside other greats [[Nat King Cole]], [[Dean Martin]], [[Mel Tormé]], and many others. She was also frequently featured on ''[[The Ed Sullivan Show]]''. Perhaps her most unusual and intriguing performance was of the "Three Little Maids" song from [[Gilbert and Sullivan]]'s comic [[operetta]] ''[[The Mikado]]'' alongside [[Joan Sutherland]] and [[Dinah Shore]] on Shore's weekly variety series in 1963. A performance at [[Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club]] in London was filmed and shown on the BBC. Fitzgerald also made a one-off appearance alongside [[Sarah Vaughan]] and [[Pearl Bailey]] on a 1979 television special honoring Bailey. In 1980, she performed a medley of standards in a duet with [[Karen Carpenter]] on the Carpenters' television special [[The Carpenters: Music, Music, Music|''Music, Music, Music'']].<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 25, 2008 |title=Ella on Special 1980 Duet with Karen Carpenter |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jquc8iFj6sY |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/Jquc8iFj6sY |archive-date=December 11, 2021 |access-date=December 28, 2012 |publisher=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Fitzgerald also appeared in TV commercials, including an ad for [[Memorex]].<ref name="Stamp">{{Cite news |date=January 9, 2007 |title=New stamp honors first lady of song |url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/people/2007-01-09-ella-fitzgerald-stamp_x.htm?POE=LIFISVA |access-date=February 23, 2014 |work=[[USA Today]] |agency=AP}}</ref> In the commercials, she sang a note that shattered a glass while being recorded on a Memorex cassette tape.<ref name="Memorex">{{Cite news |last=Rosen |first=Larry |date=July 18, 2013 |title=Is It Live or Is It Memorex? |url=http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/rewired-the-psychology-technology/201307/is-it-live-or-is-it-memorex |access-date=February 23, 2014 |work=[[Psychology Today]]}}</ref> The tape was played back and the recording also broke another glass, asking: "Is it live, or is it Memorex?"<ref name="Memorex" /> She also appeared in a number of commercials for [[KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken)|Kentucky Fried Chicken]], singing and scatting to the fast-food chain's longtime slogan: "We do chicken right!"<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ella Fitzgerald For Kentucky Fried Chicken |url=http://www.retrojunk.com/commercial/show/17602/ella-fitzgerald-for-kentucky-fried-chicken |access-date=December 28, 2012 |website=Rerojunk.com}}</ref> Her last commercial campaign was for [[American Express]], in which she was photographed by [[Annie Leibovitz]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 22, 2005 |title=She puts the famous in focus |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=20051122&id=K4hIAAAAIBAJ&pg=6684,1116558 |access-date=February 23, 2014 |work=[[St. Petersburg Times]]}}</ref>

''Ella Fitzgerald Just One of Those Things'' is a film about her life including interviews with many famous singers and musicians who worked with her and her son. It was directed by Leslie Woodhead and produced by Reggie Nadelson. It was released in the UK in 2019.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |last=Evans-Darby |first=Sally |date=March 21, 2019 |title=Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things &#124; Jazz Journal |url=https://jazzjournal.co.uk/2019/03/21/ella-fitzgerald-just-one-of-those-things/}}</ref>

==Collaborations==
Fitzgerald's most famous collaborations were with the vocal quartet [[Bill Kenny (singer)|Bill Kenny]] & [[the Ink Spots]], trumpeter [[Louis Armstrong]], the guitarist [[Joe Pass]], and the bandleaders [[Count Basie]] and [[Duke Ellington]].
* From 1943 to 1950, Fitzgerald recorded seven songs with the Ink Spots featuring Bill Kenny. Of the seven, four reached the top of the pop charts, including "[[I'm Making Believe]]" and "[[Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall]]", which both reached No. 1.
* Fitzgerald recorded three Verve studio albums with Louis Armstrong, two albums of standards (1956's ''[[Ella and Louis]]'' and 1957's ''[[Ella and Louis Again]]''), and a third album featured music from the [[George Gershwin|Gershwin]] opera ''[[Porgy and Bess (Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong album)|Porgy and Bess]]''. Fitzgerald also recorded a number of sides with Armstrong for Decca in the early 1950s.
* Fitzgerald is sometimes referred to as the quintessential swing singer, and her meetings with Count Basie are highly regarded by critics. Fitzgerald features on one track on Basie's 1957 album ''[[One O'Clock Jump (album)|One O'Clock Jump]]'', while her 1963 album ''[[Ella and Basie!]]'' is remembered as one of her greatest recordings. With the 'New Testament' Basie band in full swing, and arrangements written by a young [[Quincy Jones]], this album proved a respite from the 'Song Book' recordings and constant touring that Fitzgerald was engaged in during this period. Fitzgerald and Basie also collaborated on the 1972 album ''[[Jazz at Santa Monica Civic '72]]'', and on the 1979 albums ''[[Digital III at Montreux]]'', ''[[A Classy Pair]]'' and ''[[A Perfect Match (Ella Fitzgerald album)|A Perfect Match]]''.
* Fitzgerald and Joe Pass recorded four albums together toward the end of Fitzgerald's career. She recorded several albums with piano accompaniment, but a guitar proved the perfect melodic foil for her. Fitzgerald and Pass appeared together on the albums ''[[Take Love Easy]]'' (1973), ''[[Easy Living (Ella Fitzgerald album)|Easy Living]]'' (1986), ''[[Speak Love]]'' (1983) and ''[[Fitzgerald and Pass... Again]]'' (1976).
* Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington recorded two live albums and two studio albums. Her ''Duke Ellington Song Book'' placed Ellington firmly in the canon known as the Great American Songbook, and the 1960s saw Fitzgerald and the 'Duke' meet on the [[Côte d'Azur]] for the 1966 album ''[[Ella and Duke at the Cote D'Azur]]'', and in [[Sweden]] for ''[[The Stockholm Concert, 1966]]''. Their 1965 album ''[[Ella at Duke's Place]]'' is also extremely well received.

Fitzgerald had a number of famous jazz musicians and soloists as sidemen over her long career. The trumpeters [[Roy Eldridge]] and Dizzy Gillespie, the guitarist [[Herb Ellis]], and the pianists Tommy Flanagan, [[Oscar Peterson]], [[Lou Levy (pianist)|Lou Levy]], [[Paul Smith (pianist)|Paul Smith]], [[Jimmy Rowles]], and [[Ellis Larkins]] all worked with Fitzgerald mostly in live, small group settings.

==Illness and death==
Fitzgerald had [[diabetes]] for several years of her later life, which led to numerous [[Complications of diabetes|complications]].<ref name="nyobit" /> She was hospitalized in 1985 briefly for respiratory problems,<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 13, 1985 |title=Ella Fitzgerald Hospitalized |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1899&dat=19850813&id=WpBGAAAAIBAJ&pg=1191,1537185 |access-date=February 22, 2014 |work=[[The Lewiston Journal]] |agency=[[Associated Press|AP]]}}</ref> in 1986 for [[congestive heart failure]],<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 27, 1986 |title=Ella Fitzgerald Hospitalized |url=https://apnews.com/177d4dfbefdf9482fa2737af6ee5782f |access-date=February 22, 2014 |work=AP News Archive |agency=AP}}</ref> and in 1990 for exhaustion.<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 10, 1990 |title=Ella Fitzgerald Hospitalized |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-07-10-mn-371-story.html |access-date=February 22, 2014 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref> In March 1990, she appeared at the [[Royal Albert Hall]] in London, England, with the [[Count Basie Orchestra]] for the launch of [[Jazz FM (UK)|Jazz FM]], plus a gala dinner at the [[Grosvenor House Hotel]] at which she performed.<ref>{{Cite web |title=25 years of Jazz FM |url=http://www.jazzfm.com/on-air/25-years-of-jazz-fm/ |access-date=April 19, 2017 |website=Jazz FM}}</ref> In 1993, both her legs were [[Amputation|amputated]] below the knee due to the effects of diabetes,<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 13, 1994 |title=Ella Fitzgerald Had Both Legs Amputated |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1241&dat=19940413&id=sEIPAAAAIBAJ&pg=5717,5241962 |access-date=February 22, 2014 |work=[[Daily News (Kingsport)|Daily News]] |location=Kingsport, Tennessee |agency=[[Reuters]]}}</ref> a condition which also damaged her eyesight.<ref name="nyobit" />

Fitzgerald died in her home from a [[stroke]] on June 15, 1996, at the age of 79.<ref name="nyobit" /> A few hours after her death, the [[Playboy Jazz Festival]] was launched at the [[Hollywood Bowl]]. In tribute, the marquee read: "Ella We Will Miss You."<ref name="Latimesobit">{{Cite news |last=Weinstein |first=Henry |last2=Brazil |first2=Jeff |date=June 16, 1996 |title=Ella Fitzgerald, Jazz's First Lady of Song, Dies |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-06-16-mn-15732-story.html |access-date=February 22, 2014 |work=Los Angeles Times |pages=1–3}}</ref> Her funeral was private,<ref name="Latimesobit" /> and she was buried at [[Inglewood Park Cemetery]] in Inglewood, California.<ref>{{Cite news |date=June 15, 1996 |title=Notable Lives |url=https://www.inglewoodparkcemetery.com/notable-lives/ |access-date=March 19, 2024 |publisher=[[Inglewood Park Cemetery]] |location=Inglewood, California}}</ref>

==Personal life==
[[File:Ella Fitzgerald (1960) by Erling Mandelmann.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|alt=Fitzgerald is sitting down on a chair inside a home. She is wearing a casual dress and leaning over.|Fitzgerald in 1960 by [[Erling Mandelmann]]]]

Fitzgerald married at least twice, and there is evidence that suggests that she may have married a third time. Her first marriage was in 1941, to Benny Kornegay, a convicted drug dealer and local dockworker. The marriage was [[annulment|annulled]] in 1942.{{sfn|Nicholson|2004|pp=67–68}} Her second marriage was in December 1947, to the famous [[double bass|bass]] player [[Ray Brown (musician)|Ray Brown]], whom she had met while on tour with [[Dizzy Gillespie]]'s band a year earlier. Together they adopted a child born to Fitzgerald's half-sister, Frances, whom they christened [[Ray Brown Jr.]] With Fitzgerald and Brown often busy touring and recording, the child was largely raised by his mother's aunt, Virginia. Fitzgerald and Brown divorced in 1953, due to the various career pressures both were experiencing at the time, though they would continue to perform together.<ref name="nyobit" />

In July 1957, [[Reuters]] reported that Fitzgerald had secretly married Thor Einar Larsen, a young Norwegian, in [[Oslo]]. She had even gone as far as furnishing an apartment in Oslo, but the affair was quickly forgotten when Larsen was sentenced to five months' hard labor in Sweden for stealing money from a young woman to whom he had previously been engaged.{{sfn |Nicholson |2004 |pp=173–175}}

Fitzgerald was notoriously shy. [[Trumpet]] player [[Mario Bauzá]], who played behind Fitzgerald in her early years with [[Chick Webb]], remembered that "she didn't hang out much. When she got into the band, she was dedicated to her music...She was a lonely girl around New York, just kept herself to herself, for the gig."<ref name="Nicholson" /> When, later in her career, the [[Society of Singers]] named an award after her, Fitzgerald explained, "I don't want to say the wrong thing, which I always do but I think I do better when I sing."<ref name="cnn" />

From 1949 to 1956, Fitzgerald resided in the [[St. Albans, Queens|St. Albans]] neighborhood of [[Queens, New York]], an enclave of prosperous African Americans where she counted among her neighbors [[Illinois Jacquet]], [[Count Basie]], [[Lena Horne]], and other jazz luminaries.<ref>[http://prrac.org/newsletters/janfebmar2017.pdf "This Green and Pleasant Land"] by Bryan Greene, in Poverty and Race, p. 3.</ref>

Fitzgerald was a civil rights activist. She was awarded the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]] Equal Justice Award and the American Black Achievement Award.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 7, 2017 |title=Awards |url=http://www.ellafitzgerald.com/about/awards |access-date=October 10, 2017 |work=Ella Fitzgerald}}</ref> In 1949, [[Norman Granz]] recruited Fitzgerald for the [[Jazz at the Philharmonic]] tour.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hershorn |first=Tad |title=Norman Granz: The Man Who Used Jazz for Justice |date=2011 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-26782-4}}</ref> The Jazz at the Philharmonic tour would specifically target segregated venues. Granz required promoters to ensure that there was no "colored" or "white" seating. He ensured Fitzgerald was to receive equal pay and accommodations regardless of her sex and race. If the conditions were not met shows were cancelled.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Perea |first=Jessica |date=November 26, 2013 |title=Fitzgerald, Ella |url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/display/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002275792 |publisher=Grove Music Online (Oxford Music Online)}}</ref>

Bill Reed, author of ''Hot from Harlem: Twelve African American Entertainers'', referred to Fitzgerald as the "Civil Rights Crusader", facing discrimination throughout her career.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bill |first=Reed |title=Hot from Harlem: Twelve African American Entertainers, 1890–1960. |publisher=McFarland & Co. |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-7864-5726-7}}</ref> In 1954 on her way to one of her concerts in Australia she was unable to board the Pan American flight because of racial discrimination.<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 15, 2016 |title=Post Civil War: Freedmen and Civil Rights |url=https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/segregation-public-facilities.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010155409/https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/segregation-public-facilities.html |archive-date=October 10, 2017 |access-date=October 10, 2017 |work=National Archives |language=en}}</ref> Although she faced several obstacles and racial barriers, she was recognized as a "cultural ambassador", receiving the [[National Medal of Arts]] in 1987 and America's highest non-military honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bush |first=George |date=December 11, 1992 |title=Remarks on Presenting the Presidential Medals of Freedom {{!}} The American Presidency Project |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-presenting-the-presidential-medals-freedom |access-date=June 22, 2020 |website=www.presidency.ucsb.edu}}</ref>

In 1993, Fitzgerald established the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation focusing on charitable grants for four major categories: academic opportunities for children, music education, basic care needs for the less fortunate, medical research revolving around diabetes, heart disease, and vision impairment.<ref>"The Foundation." ''Ella Fitzgerald'', Universal Music Enterprises, www.ellafitzgerald.com/foundation.</ref> Her goals were to give back and provide opportunities for those "at risk" and less fortunate. In addition, she supported several nonprofit organizations like the [[American Heart Association]], City of Hope, and the [[Retina Foundation]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wilson |first=John S. |date=February 11, 1990 |title=A Tribute to Fitzgerald With Heart and Soul |url=http://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/12/arts/a-tribute-to-fitzgerald-with-heart-and-soul.html |work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>Easterling, Michael. "Celebrating 100 Years of Song", ''Breakthroughs'', City of Hope, April 24, 2017, www.cityofhope.org/celebrating-ella-fitzgerald.</ref><ref>Bishop, Elizabeth, and Robert Giroux. ''One Art: Letters''. Pimlico, 1996.</ref>

==Discography and collections==
{{main|Ella Fitzgerald albums discography|Ella Fitzgerald singles discography}}

The primary collections of Fitzgerald's media and memorabilia reside at and are shared between the [[Smithsonian Institution]] and the [[Library of Congress|US Library of Congress]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wong |first=Hannah |title='First Lady of Song' LC Collection Tells Ella Fitzgerald Story |url=https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9708/ella.html |access-date=March 19, 2013 |publisher=LOC}}</ref>

===Awards, citations and honors===
{{main|List of awards and nominations received by Ella Fitzgerald}}
Fitzgerald won 13 [[Grammy Award]]s,<ref name="Grammy Awards">{{Cite web |title=Ella Fitzgerald |url=https://www.grammy.com/artists/ella-fitzgerald/16685 |access-date=March 12, 2022 |website=grammy.com |publisher=[[The Recording Academy]]}}</ref> and received the [[Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award]] in 1967.<ref name="Grammy Awards" />

In 1958 Fitzgerald became the first African-American woman to win at the inaugural show.<ref name="Grammy Awards" />

Other major awards and honors she received during her career were the [[Kennedy Center Honors|Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Medal of Honor Award]], [[National Medal of Arts|National Medal of Art]], first [[Society of Singers]] Lifetime Achievement Award (named "Ella" in her honor), [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]], and the [[UCLA Spring Sing The George and Ira Gershwin Award|George and Ira Gershwin Award]] for Lifetime Musical Achievement, [[UCLA Spring Sing]], and the UCLA Medal (1987).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Calendar & Events: Spring Sing: Gershwin Award |url=http://www.uclalumni.net/CalendarEvents/springsing/Gershwin/winners.cfm |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110817021611/http://www.uclalumni.net/calendarevents/springsing/Gershwin/winners.cfm |archive-date=August 17, 2011 |publisher=UCLA}}</ref> Across town at the [[University of Southern California]], she received the USC "Magnum Opus" Award, which hangs in the office of the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation. In 1986, she received an honorary doctorate of music from Yale University.<ref name="Rockwell 1986">{{Cite web |last=Rockwell |first=John |author-link=John Rockwell |date=June 15, 1986 |title=Half a Century of Song with the Great 'Ella' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/06/15/arts/half-a-century-of-song-with-the-great-ella.html |access-date=July 4, 2019 |website=The New York Times}}</ref> In 1990, she received an [[honorary doctorate]] of Music from [[Harvard University]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Partial List of Harvard Honorary Degrees |url=http://www.harvard.edu/honorary-degrees |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150805061552/http://www.harvard.edu/honorary-degrees |archive-date=August 5, 2015 |access-date=May 30, 2013 |publisher=[[Harvard University]]}}</ref>

==Tributes and legacy==
[[File:Statue of Ella Fitzgerald in Montreux.jpg|thumb|alt=Bronze statue of Fitzgerald in a park. She is depicted as holding a microphone and gesturing the other hand forward.|Statue of Fitzgerald in [[Montreux]], Switzerland]]

The career history and archival material from Fitzgerald's long career are housed in the Archives Center at the [[Smithsonian]]'s [[National Museum of American History]], while her personal music arrangements are at the [[Library of Congress]]. Her extensive [[cookbook]] collection was donated to the Schlesinger Library at [[Harvard University]], and her extensive collection of published sheet music was donated to UCLA. Harvard gave her an honorary degree in music in 1990.

In 1997, [[Newport News, Virginia]], created a week-long music festival with [[Christopher Newport University]] to honor Fitzgerald in her birth city.

[[Ann Hampton Callaway]], [[Dee Dee Bridgewater]], and [[Patti Austin]] have all recorded albums in tribute to Fitzgerald. Callaway's album ''To Ella with Love'' (1996) features 14 jazz standards made popular by Fitzgerald, and the album also features the trumpeter [[Wynton Marsalis]]. Bridgewater's album ''[[Dear Ella]]'' (1997) featured many musicians that were closely associated with Fitzgerald during her career, including the pianist [[Lou Levy (pianist)|Lou Levy]], the trumpeter Benny Powell, and Fitzgerald's second husband, double bassist Ray Brown. Bridgewater's following album, ''[[Live at Yoshi's (Dee Dee Bridgewater album)|Live at Yoshi's]]'', was recorded live on April 25, 1998, what would have been Fitzgerald's 81st birthday.

Austin's album, ''For Ella'' (2002) features 11 songs most immediately associated with Fitzgerald, and a twelfth song, "Hearing Ella Sing" is Austin's tribute to Fitzgerald. The album was nominated for a [[Grammy]]. In 2007, ''[[We All Love Ella: Celebrating the First Lady of Song|We All Love Ella]]'', was released, a tribute album recorded for Fitzgerald's 90th birthday. It featured artists such as [[Michael Bublé]], [[Natalie Cole]], [[Chaka Khan]], [[Gladys Knight]], [[Diana Krall]], [[k.d. lang]], [[Queen Latifah]], [[Ledisi]], Dianne Reeves, [[Linda Ronstadt]], and [[Lizz Wright]], collating songs most readily associated with the "First Lady of Song". Folk singer [[Odetta]]'s album ''[[To Ella]]'' (1998) is dedicated to Fitzgerald, but features no songs associated with her. Her accompanist Tommy Flanagan affectionately remembered Fitzgerald on his album ''Lady be Good ... For Ella'' (1994).

"[[Ella, elle l'a]]", a tribute to Fitzgerald written by [[Michel Berger]] and performed by French singer [[France Gall]], was a hit in Europe in 1987 and 1988.<ref>{{Cite web |title=France Gall |url=http://www.radioswissjazz.ch/en/musicians/artist/21127a25816eb62377a6bec3bc2551ed444d8/biography |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407181046/http://www.radioswissjazz.ch/en/musicians/artist/21127a25816eb62377a6bec3bc2551ed444d8/biography |archive-date=April 7, 2016 |access-date=March 25, 2015 |website=Radio Swizz Jazz}}</ref> Fitzgerald is also referred to in the 1976 [[Stevie Wonder]] hit "[[Sir Duke]]" from his album ''[[Songs in the Key of Life]]'', and the song "I Love Being Here With You", written by [[Peggy Lee]] and Bill Schluger. Sinatra's 1986 recording of "[[Mack the Knife]]" from his album ''[[L.A. Is My Lady]]'' (1984) includes a homage to some of the song's previous performers, including 'Lady Ella' herself. She is also honored in the song "First Lady" by Canadian artist [[Nikki Yanofsky]].

In 2008, the Downing-Gross Cultural Arts Center in Newport News named its 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 and 12, 2008) were [[Roberta Flack]] and [[Queen Esther Marrow]].

In 2012, [[Rod Stewart]] performed a "virtual duet" with Ella Fitzgerald on his Christmas album ''Merry Christmas, Baby'', and his television special of the same name.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Graff |first=Gary |date=October 30, 2012 |title=Rod Stewart: I Thought Christmas Album Was 'Beneath Me' |url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/474407/rod-stewart-i-thought-christmas-album-was-beneath-me |access-date=February 23, 2014 |work=Billboard}}</ref>

There is [[The First Lady of Jazz (sculpture)|a bronze sculpture of Fitzgerald]] in Yonkers, the city in which she grew up, created by American artist Vinnie Bagwell. It is located southeast of the main entrance to the [[Amtrak]]/[[Metro-North Railroad]] station in front of the city's [[Yonkers Trolley Barn|old trolley barn]]. The statue's location is one of 14 tour stops on the [[African American Heritage Trail of Westchester County]]. A bust of Fitzgerald is on the campus of [[Chapman University]] in Orange, California. [[Ed Dwight]] created a series of over 70 bronze sculptures at the St. Louis Arch Museum at the request of the National Park Service; the series, "Jazz: An American Art Form", depicts the evolution of jazz and features various jazz performers, including Fitzgerald.<ref name="edstudios-bio">{{Cite web |title=Behind the Scenes |url=http://www.eddwight.com/about/behind-scenes |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150809025235/http://www.eddwight.com/about/behind-scenes |archive-date=August 9, 2015 |access-date=July 25, 2015 |website=eddwight.com |publisher=Ed Dwight Studios, Inc.}}</ref>

On January 9, 2007, the [[United States Postal Service]] announced that Fitzgerald would be honored with her own postage stamp.<ref name="Stamp" /> The stamp was released in April 2007 as part of the Postal Service's Black Heritage series.<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 9, 2007 |title=New Stamp Honors First Lady of Song |url=http://www.whsv.com/news/headlines/5134776.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130905194809/http://www.whsv.com/news/headlines/5134776.html |archive-date=September 5, 2013 |access-date=December 2, 2009 |publisher=[[WHSV-TV|WHSV News 3]]}}</ref>

In April 2013, she was featured in [[Google Doodle]], depicting her performing onstage. It celebrated what would have been her 96th birthday.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Batty |first=David |date=April 25, 2013 |title=Google celebrates Ella Fitzgerald with doodle on 96th birthday |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/apr/25/ella-fitzgerald-commemorated-google-doodle |access-date=September 9, 2017 |work=Guardian}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Patrick |date=April 25, 2013 |title=Ella Fitzgerald celebrated in Google Doodle; 'The Queen of Jazz' Ella Fitzgearld is commemorated with a Google Doodle on what would have been her 96th birthday |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/google-doodle/10017182/Ella-Fitzgerald-celebrated-in-Google-Doodle.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/google-doodle/10017182/Ella-Fitzgerald-celebrated-in-Google-Doodle.html |archive-date=January 11, 2022 |access-date=September 9, 2017 |work=The Telegraph Online}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

On April 25, 2017, the centenary of her birth, the UK's [[BBC Radio 2]] broadcast three programs as part of an "Ella at 100" celebration: ''Ella Fitzgerald Night'', introduced by [[Jamie Cullum]]; ''Remembering Ella''; introduced by [[Leo Green]]; and ''Ella Fitzgerald – the First Lady of Song'', introduced by [[Petula Clark]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 25, 2017 |title=Ella at 100, Ella Fitzgerald – The First Lady of Song |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08n1bxs |access-date=April 25, 2017 |website=BBC Radio 2 – Bbc.co.uk}}</ref>

In 2019, ''Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things'', a documentary by [[Leslie Woodhead]], was released in the UK. It featured rare footage, radio broadcasts and interviews with Jamie Cullum, [[André Previn|Andre Previn]], [[Johnny Mathis]], and other musicians, plus a long interview with Fitzgerald's son, [[Ray Brown Jr.|Ray Brown Jr]].<ref name="auto" />

In 2023, ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' ranked Fitzgerald at No. 45 on their list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=January 1, 2023 |title=The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-singers-all-time-1234642307/ella-fitzgerald-2-1234643126/ |access-date=September 5, 2023 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite book |last=Gourse |first=Leslie |title=The Ella Fitzgerald Companion |publisher=[[Omnibus Press]] |year=1998 |isbn=0-7119-6916-7 |location=London}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hemming |first=Roy |url=https://archive.org/search.php?query=Discovering%20great%20singers%20of%20classic%20pop&and[]=creator%3A%22hemming%2C+roy%22&and[]=year%3A%221991%22 |title=Discovering great singers of classic pop : a new listener's guide to the sounds and lives of the top performers and their recordings, movies, and videos |last2=Hajdu |first2=David |publisher=Newmarket Press |year=1991 |isbn=978-1-55704-148-7 |location=New York |oclc=1033645473}}
* {{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=J. Wilfred |title=Ella Fitzgerald: An Annotated Discography |publisher=McFarland |year=2001 |isbn=0-7864-0906-1}}
* {{Cite book |last=Nicholson |first=Stuart |title=Ella Fitzgerald: 1917–1996 |publisher=Indigo |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-575-40032-0 |location=London}}
* {{Cite book |last=Nicholson |first=Stuart |title=Ella Fitzgerald : the complete biography |publisher=Routledge |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-136-78813-0 |location=New York |oclc=884745086 |id={{OCLC|1033559908|884645602}}}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{Library resources box|by=yes|viaf=6148211}}

* Gourse, Leslie (1998), ''The Ella Fitzgerald Companion: Seven Decades of Commentary''. Music Sales Ltd; {{ISBN|0-02-864625-8}}
* Yazza, Houria (2000), ''Ella and Marilyn, the perfect friendship''. NY 2000
* Johnson, J. Wilfred (2001), ''Ella Fitzgerald: A Complete Annotated Discography''. McFarland & Co Inc.; {{ISBN|0-7864-0906-1}}

==External links==
{{Archival records
| title           = Ella Fitzgerald collection, 1956–1992
| location        = [[Music Division, Library of Congress]]
| description_URL = http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/eadmus.mu010023
}}
{{Commons and category}}

* {{Official website}}
* {{Discogs artist}}
* {{IMDb name}}
* {{IBDB name}}
* [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/104118 Ella Fitzgerald] recordings at the [[Discography of American Historical Recordings]]
* [https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9708/ella.html Ella Fitzgerald] at the [[Library of Congress]] 
*[https://archives.libraries.rutgers.edu/repositories/6/resources/493 Ella Fitzgerald] at the [[Institute of Jazz Studies]] on Rutgers University
* [http://www.pitt.edu/~atteberr/jazz/articles/ella.html "Remembering Ella"] by Phillip D. Atteberry (originally published in ''The Mississippi Rag'', April 1996)
*[https://www.pbs.org/video/ella-fitzgerald-just-one-of-those-things-7xbobh/ "Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things"], documentary by PBS ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220613091902/https://www.pbs.org/video/ella-fitzgerald-just-one-of-those-things-7xbobh/ |date=June 13, 2022}})

{{Ella Fitzgerald|state=expanded}}
{{Navboxes
| title = [[List of awards received by Ella Fitzgerald|Awards for Ella Fitzgerald]]
| list =
{{American Music Award of Merit}}
{{Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award}}
{{Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year}}
{{Kennedy Center Honorees 1970s}}
{{NAACP Image Award – Hall of Fame Award}}
{{NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Artist}}
{{NAACP Image Award – President's Award}}
{{National Medal of Arts recipients 1980s}}
{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}
}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald, Ella}}
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