Ella Fitzgerald Can you imagine what life would be like living in America during the 1920s? It was the “Roaring 20’s”, a fun period of time right after World War I and right before the Great Depression. Girls wore flapper dresses with bobbed hair and danced the Charleston. Woman won the right to vote and thanks to Henrys Ford’s legendary Model-T there was a boom in the car industry. During this time, jazz music became popular. Generally, African Americans are given credit for starting the jazz music movement. Legendary artists like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald became popular. Ella Jane Fitzgerald was one of the most famous American Jazz singers of all time. Ella Fitzgerald was born on April 25th, 1917 …show more content…
Ella went to worship services, bible study and sunday school every week. This is where she first experienced formal music. She was also passionate with dancing and especially the move called “Snakehips” which her and her friends would do at school. Ella wanted to take piano but it was to expensive to afford. Her inspirations were jazz artists such as Louis Armstrong, the Boswell sisters and Bing Crosby. At the age of 17 Ella Fitzgerald decided to addition for an amateur contest. She wanted to dance but was intimidated by the Edward sisters who just went before her. So she sang a song called “Judy” and “The Object of My Affection” instead, and won first place. That was the beginning of her career. Not too long after this she got the chance to preform with some famous jazz singers like the Tiny Bradshaw and Chick Webb. Some of her most famous songs that we still know today are “ A- Tisket, A- Tasket’ , which she sang with the Chick Webb orchestra in 1938. Also “ My Happiness” written by Betty Peterson Blasco and Borney Bergatine in 1948. Another one of her famous songs was called “Stone Cold Dead in the Market” written by Willmoth Houdini in 1945 and “ I Found my Yellow Basket”in 1938. Ella sang with the Chick Webb Orchestra in 1938. When he died, the band was renamed Ella and her Famous Orchestra. With this band, she recorded nearly 150 …show more content…
She explains, “This was a turning point in my life”. Ella’s first of eight songbook sets that she recorded with Verve was in 1956. It was called Ella Fitzgerald sings the Cole Porter Songbook. Some of her best albums according to critics were Ella at the Opera House, Ella in Rome and also Twelve Nights in Hollywood. Besides Ella Fitzgerald's singing career she also starred in some movies, television shows and a number of Kentucky Fried Chicken commercials. She sang their slogan “We do chicken right!”. Her most famous movie was Pete Kelly's Blues where she played the character Maggie Jackson in 1955. Some other movies that she was in included St. Louis Blues and Let No Man Write My Epitaph. Ella also appeared on many television shows as a guest appearance. Those shows included The Frank Sinatra Show, The Andy Williams Show, The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom and many others. Ella married twice. Her first marriage was to a man named Benny Kornegay in 1941. But he was a convicted drug dealer, they split after 2 years. Her second husband was the famous bass player Ray Brown Jr. in 1947. Together they adopted Fitzgerald’s half sister’s child but the child was mostly raised by her aunt because Ella and Benny both traveled a lot for their careers. In 1996 there was rumors of a third marriage to a man named Thor Einar Larson a young man from