Ella Fitzgerald Research Paper

American jazz vocalist Ella Fitzgerald was the “first lady” of singing, swing, bebop, and ballads. Her career spanned over sixty years, she sold millions of records, and won multiple Grammy awards. She known all over the world. Ella Fitzgerald greatly impacted the way jazz music is today through her use of scatting and her perfect voice. Ella Fitzgerald did not become the “first lady” of these things overnight. She had to go through hardships in order to get to that point. Ella Fitzgerald was born to William Fitzgerald & Temperance “Tempie” Williams Fitzgerald in Newport News, Virginia on April 25, 1917. However, her parents separated shortly after she was born. When they separated Ella moved with her mother to Yonkers, New York, and they
She sang a version of “Mack the Knife” by Bobby Darin, and midway through the song, she forgot the lyrics. Instead, of just stopping midway through the song, she improvised and came up with new lyrics. This is method was known as scat. Scat is “vocal improvisation with wordless syllables, combining improvised melodies, motifs and rhythmic patterns using the voice as an instrument, not unlike a trumpet or saxophone.” (Vitro). Ella was known for this, and she really changed the jazz was performed. “Fitzgerald was known for her clarity of voice and her perfect pitch. According to many, it was perfect pitch that enabled her to successfully perform the “scat” singing—the singing of nonsense words and syllables to embellish a melody.” (Extravagant Crowd). Ella Fitzgerald is the most influential person when it comes to scat. Ella Fitzgerald has influenced artists like Adele whose album 25 is at the top of the charts. As well as Regina Carter who is a jazz violinist and considers Ella Fitzgerald to be her idol.
During the 1970’s Ella began touring with Frank Sinatra, who is a famous jazz singer. Though, in 1971, her career had to come to a halt because of cataract surgery. Because of this she was doing less concerts, but still performed as much as she could. Within a three-year span Ella worked with 40 different symphonies including the Boston Pops. She never let her condition stop her from doing what she
She persevered through the toughest of situations, and she never let it get in the way of her singing, and she was so successful because of the attitude that she had. If she wanted to do something she really set her mind to it and never gave up. Ella Fitzgerald incorporated scat into her singing. No one could do it quite like her, so many people looked up to her. Ella was so successful because of the attitude that she had. Ella Fitzgerald once said, “A lot of singers think all they have to do is exercise their tonsils to get ahead. They refuse to look for new ideas and new outlets, so they fall by the wayside... I'm going to try to find out the new ideas before the others