![]() 19 on the charts and carried over the playful bounce of her prior songs, and “Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall,” her duet with Bill Kenny and the Ink Spots and first chart-topping hit. She’d continue to collaborate with other musicians, and teamed up with Harry James and James Lunceford on the catchy motivational anthem “T’Ain’t What You Do, It’s the Way That You Do It,” which peaked at No. Listeners agreed, and the song was her ticket to fame: she performed it in Abbott & Costello’s 1942 film, Ride ‘Em Cowboy, which served as her onscreen debut.įollowing the death of Webb in 1939, Ella was dubbed the orchestra’s new bandleader, and she sang with them through 1942. Three years later, she found her national breakthrough in an unlikely source: “A-Tisket A-Tasket” made for a sweet spin thanks to its origins as a familiar nursery rhyme, but Ella’s take is anything but juvenile: it borrows the wordplay and melody while giving it an easily danceable beat, one that could easily translate to a bustling dance hall. Her first credited song, 1935’s “I’ll Chase the Blues Away” with the Chick Webb Orchestra, is a buoyant, cheerful flirtation of an introduction, a love note set to a toe-tapping beat. Ella Fitzgerald’s early recordingsįrom the start, Ella Fitzgerald’s voice was a force, and one that grew more nuanced and respected with time – but the earliest tapes of her singing reveal a vibrant, vivacious appeal that charmed listeners and kept them coming back for more. The Queen of Jazz, the First Lady of Song, Lady Ella – no matter the title, listeners have loved American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald and her music for nearly a century, and it’s no wonder that her timeless songs only get better with age. She was presented with the Kennedy Center’s Medal of Honor in 1979, as well as the presidential medal of freedom in 1992, and her work is preserved by both the Smithsonian Institute and Library of Congress. She was the first black female artist to win a Grammy, and collected 13 over the course of her career (and that doesn’t count her lifetime achievement award, which she received in 1967). She was an effortless scatter, fluent in jazz’s improvisational language she never settled for the comforts of success and challenged herself to sing swing, musical theater, pop, and beyond, a mix that made her shows (and her subsequent live albums) captivating proof of her prowess. ![]() Listen to the best Ella Fitzgerald songs on Apple Music and Spotify.Īs adored and accessible as these immediately recognizable songs are, Fitzgerald was as much a pioneer as she was a powerhouse. Her renditions of these jazz classics, from the work of Irving Berlin and George and Ira Gershwin to Duke Ellington, have become renowned standards in and of themselves. She navigated dance floor ditties and mournful ballads with ease, collaborated with legendary bandleaders like Benny Goodman and Count Basie, and belted and crooned her way through the great American Songbook. She joined the ranks of Chick Webb’s orchestra as its velvet voice within a year of her triumphant Amateur Night debut.īy 1938, Ella had recorded a number of singles, but struck gold with her elevated take on a popular nursery rhyme, “A Tisket A Tasket.” Hers was a voice that immediately put the listener at ease – amber, warm, and with a strong vibrato that lent itself beautifully to countless styles. Soon, Ella was singing with bands as they provided the soundtrack for smoke-filled dance halls, like Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom, and swinging, sultry jazz nights across town. ![]() She sang the songs “Judy” and “The Object of My Affection” instead, and won the evening’s top prize. She had planned on dancing in hopes of securing her shot at fame, but was intimidated by a tap-dancing act who won the crowd over with their fancy footwork before her turn. In the fall of 1934, Ella Fitzgerald – then a homeless, 17-year-old girl in Harlem – took the stage at the Apollo Theater’s very first Amateur Night. ![]()
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