Ella Fitzgerald forged an identity as an international jazz icon and cultural touchstone, fusing black vocal aesthetics with jazz improvisation to revolutionize popular repertoire. Drawing on long-lost set lists and reviews from white as well as black newspapers, author Sam Tick reveals how Fitzgerald defied expectations of musical Blackness while skillfully balancing artistic ambition and market demands.
Born in Newport News, Virginia, on April 25, 1917, Fitzgerald’s father and mother separated soon after her birth; she moved with her mother, Tempie Henry (nicknamed “Doll”), to Yonkers, New York, where they lived with a friend, Joe Da Silva, whom she referred to as her stepfather. To help support herself and her half-sister, Frances, Fitzgerald worked as a runner for local gamblers, picking up their bets after each session.
In 1955, producer and manager Norman Granz signed her to his Verve label in a deal that seemed like a coup. He positioned her as a singer with a command of the American pop songbook, on par with an era great such as Sinatra. Fitzgerald’s ballad singing was exquisite and conveyed a winsome, ingenuous quality; her scat singing introduced a fresh sound to jazz.
A true collaborative spirit, Fitzgerald recorded with the best jazz musicians of her day. Her albums on Verve, including Mack the Knife: Ella in Berlin and Twelve Nights in Hollywood, showcased her talent for interpretation. Her wide vocal range, mastery of rhythm, harmony, intonation and diction, and remarkable sense of humor made her an unparalleled performer. Among her many honors, she was inducted into the Down Beat magazine Hall of Fame, awarded the National Medal of Arts by Ronald Reagan, and received honorary doctorates from Yale, Dartmouth, and other universities. Ella Fitzgerald