Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald was an American jazz singer born in 1917 in Newport News, Virginia. She rose to prominence in the 1930s with Chick Webb’s orchestra and became one of the defining voices of the swing era. Known as the First Lady of Song, she recorded landmark Songbook albums interpreting the Great American Songbook and collaborated with Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Count Basie. Her scat singing and three-octave range influenced generations of vocalists across jazz and popular music. She won 14 Grammy Awards and the National Medal of Arts before her death in 1996.