William Henry Webb, better known as Chick Webb, was born February 10, 1905 in Baltimore,Maryland. He was born with a condition in his back called spinal tuberculosis which led him to have poor health his entire life. Webb was a small hunchback man with great musical talent that people called an “unconquerable spirit”. He was one of the greatest jazz drummers of the Harlem Renaissance and still influences jazz drummers today. As a child, Webb had really stiff limbs because of his condition so his doctor suggested he play an instrument to loosen up. He started saving up money by delivering papers in order to buy himself his first drum set. This was the start of Webb’s drumming career. He moved to New York City at the age of 17 and started …show more content…
Many other great bands would go to the Savoy to challenge the Chick Webb Orchestra , but no one was ever better than them. Webb was eventually known as “The King of the Savoy” because of how good of a bandleader and a drummer he was.
Chick Webb, who already had a great reputation, made it even better when he replaced his singer Charles Linton with a new unknown singer Ella Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald eventually became the lead singer and was later known as “The First Lady of Swing.” They were able to make many great hits together such as ,"A-Tisket a Tasket," and many other ones.Webb married Martha Loretta Ferguson, also known as “Sallyee,” in 1935 and ended up legally adopting Ella Fitzgerald.
After a while, Chick Webb’s health started to fail him mostly because of his chronic back condition. Webb refused to not have his orchestra play at the best of their abilities and it was said that Chick played with so much energy that he was physically exhausted when he would leave the stage. In 1939, Webb left to Baltimore for a major operation and ended up passing away on June 16,1938. Chick Webb’s funeral was so big that the church it was held at was not able to hold all of the mourners who came. Ella Fitzgerald tried to keep the band going and became the new bandleader. However, later it became too much for her to handle and the band eventually broke up in