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Ella Fitzgerald Research Paper

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In 1932 Ella Fitzgerald’s mother died from a heart attack. Ella had a hard time dealing with the death of her mother. Her grades went down and she starting skipping school. She started to get abused by her stepfather, which led her to run away to live with her aunty. During this time is when she worked as a look out and numbers runner for a mafia. She eventually got caught and was sent to live in an orphan in the Bronx. She was moved to a school for girls in Hudson New York because of over crowding but eventually ran away and became homeless. Ella Fitzgerald made her singing debut when she was 17 on November 21, 1934 at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York. She was supposed to go on stage and dance but she was intimidated by a dance duo that went on earlier so she decided to sing a song recorded by the Boswell sisters, which helped her win the first prize. In 1935 she won a chance to perform with the Tiny Bradshaw band and the Harlem Opera house. This is where she met Chick Webb who was the drummer and bandleader. Chick Webb would later offered her a part in their band. She sang with the Webb’s Orchestra throughout 1935 and recorded several …show more content…

She has recorded almost 150 albums. She was famous all over the world and in 1958 she won her first two Grammys and made history as the first African-American woman to win a Grammy. She won for best individual jazz performance and best female vocal performance. She was praised for her flexible, wide-ranging, accurate, ageless voice. She could sing slow ballads, jazz songs and imitate every instrument in an orchestra. She worked with many jazz greats like Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra. She performed at many of the top venues all over the world. Her audience was very different. They were rich or poor, different race and religion, it didn’t matter everyone loved her

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