Jazz music began to gain popularity in the 20s of the XX century thanks to the emergence of outstanding talented performers who worked in this genre. One of them was Ella Fitzgerald, a brief biography of which will be considered in this article. We will tell you more about her childhood, career, personal life and recent years.
Childhood and youth
The childhood of the future great singer can hardly be called prosperous. She was born on April 25, 1917 in the family of a forklift driver and a laundry worker. However, her parents were not officially painted and quickly separated after the appearance of her daughter. Ella's mother, 23-year-old Temperance Fitzgerald, taking the baby with her, moved to the southern part of New York. There she met the Portuguese Joseph de Silva, who later became the singer's stepfather. In 1923, another daughter appeared in their family, who was named Francis. The Fitzgeralds lived extremely poorly, renting a room in a high-rise building. Ella's parents were religious people, so the girl often attended church, where she sang gospels. As a child, she was also fond of dancing, cinema and sports.
Ella Jane Fitzgerald, whose biography is described in this article, lost her mother at age 14. Temperance suddenly died of a heart attack, which severely crippled the girl. Due to the death of her mother, she abandoned the school, and relations with her stepfather deteriorated greatly. In the end, she moved to her aunt and got a job as a caretaker in a brothel. When guardianship services found out about this, Ella was sent to a shelter for dysfunctional children. But Fitzgerald soon escaped from there and for some time was forced to live on the street.
The beginning of the creative path
For the first time, Ella appeared on stage at the age of 17, taking part in the talent contest, which took place in the Apollo Theater. Initially, she wanted to dance, but at the last moment she changed her mind and sang. The winner was determined by the applause of the audience, who shouted the loudest when the host said: “Ella Fitzgerald”. The biography of her work began from that moment. In 1935, she began performing with the Chick Webb Orchestra, which spotted her during a performance at Apollo. Her first hit was the song A-Tisket, A-Tasket, which was written based on a children's reader. Webb died in 1938, and Ella took control of the orchestra, renaming it Ella and Her Famous Orchestra. Together with the musicians, she wrote almost 150 songs, but they could not become popular. The orchestra broke up in 1942 when Ella decided to concentrate on her solo career.
After leaving the orchestra, the singer signed a contract with the music studio Decca Records, and Milt Gabler and Norman Granz became involved in her career. Ella began to appear frequently at jazz concerts, where she tried to sing in the bebop style, improving her musical skills. In 1945, Fitzgerald recorded the song Flying Home, and critics put it on a par with leading artists, including Louis Armstrong. After 2 years, Ella released the song Oh Lady Be Good, after which she became known as the best jazz vocalist of the decade.
The peak of Ella's music career
Ella's career reached its greatest popularity in the 50s and 60s. In 1955, she terminated her partnership with Decca Records, and her manager Norman Granz created her own recording studio for her. In 1956, her first songbook album from the Songbook series was released, and Ella wrote some of the music and lyrics for the compositions herself. Subsequently, another 7 albums from this series were released, which brought the singer huge commercial success. Between the recordings of the songbooks, Fitzgerald toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe. Her concerts gathered full halls in Rome, Berlin, Hollywood, Chicago, Los Angeles.
In 1960, Ella Fitzgerald, whose photo is presented in this article, received the prestigious Grammy Award for the unique performance of the song “Ballad of Mackey Knife”. But already in 1961, Ella's label was bought by MGM, which soon ceased to work with the performer. In 1967, the singer, whose popularity began to decline, decided to move away from classical jazz and began experimenting with her creative material.
Ella Fitzgerald: late biography
Having lost her own label, Ella began working with the studios Capitol, Atlantic and Reprise. Album Brighten the Corne, released in 1967, became the 35th collection of the singer. It included many popular Christian and solemn songs of that time. Following him comes an album with Christmas songs, and a year later Ella released a country-style compilation, which was not appreciated by critics or listeners. Her last song, which managed to get to the top of the charts, was the song Get Ready, released in 1969.
The 1972 jazz concert album was a commercial success, and Norman Gritz ventured to create a new label, where Ella Fitzgerald, whose biography has more than 90 records, released 20 more collections. Recording a concert in London in 1974 boosted the singer's popularity. Critics called her one of the best performers in her career. A year later, she repeated her success at a concert in Hamburg.
Personal life
Ella Fitzgerald was married twice in her entire life. The biography of the singer mentions that her first husband was Benny Korney, who was involved in drug trafficking and moonlighting at the docks. However, their life together did not work out and after 2 years their marriage was called invalid. Her next marriage took place in 1947, when Ella married a jazz musician Ray Brown. They lived together until 1953, and then were forced to leave due to a busy schedule. It is believed that Ella married again in 1957, but this information has not been confirmed.
