Why is ella fitzgerald important

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Skip to main content. Blog Home About Archive. Ella Fitzgerald: Breaking down racial barriers with her voice. By intern Rebecca Kuske, April 1, Related Blog Posts. Ella Fitzgerald, first lady of humanity. After her death in , curators from this museum worked with caretakers of the Ella Fitzgerald Estate, Richard Rosman and Fran Morris The Apollo Theater: "It's in the Cards". In tribute to Lena Horne June 30, —May 9, Subscribe to our feed Subscribe by e-mail. Categories American Agriculture.

America Participates. Back to Our Roots. Business History. Norman saw that Ella had what it took to be an international star, and he convinced Ella to sign with him. It was the beginning of a lifelong business relationship and friendship. Under Norman's management, Ella joined the Philharmonic tour, worked with Louis Armstrong on several albums and began producing her infamous songbook series.

The series was wildly popular, both with Ella's fans and the artists she covered. Ella also began appearing on television variety shows. Due to a busy touring schedule, Ella and Ray were often away from home, straining the bond with their son. Ultimately, Ray Jr. Unfortunately, busy work schedules also hurt Ray and Ella's marriage. The two divorced in , but remained good friends for the rest of their lives.

On the touring circuit it was well-known that Ella's manager felt very strongly about civil rights and required equal treatment for his musicians, regardless of their color. Norman refused to accept any type of discrimination at hotels, restaurants or concert halls, even when they traveled to the Deep South. Once, while in Dallas touring for the Philharmonic, a police squad irritated by Norman's principles barged backstage to hassle the performers.

They came into Ella's dressing room, where band members Dizzy Gillespie and Illinois Jacquet were shooting dice, and arrested everyone. Norman wasn't the only one willing to stand up for Ella.

She received support from numerous celebrity fans, including a zealous Marilyn Monroe. She personally called the owner of the Mocambo, and told him she wanted me booked immediately, and if he would do it, she would take a front table every night. She told him - and it was true, due to Marilyn's superstar status - that the press would go wild. The owner said yes, and Marilyn was there, front table, every night.

The press went overboard. After that, I never had to play a small jazz club again. She was an unusual woman - a little ahead of her times. And she didn't know it. Ella continued to work as hard as she had early on in her career, despite the ill effects on her health.

She toured all over the world, sometimes performing two shows a day in cities hundreds of miles apart. Still going strong five years later, she was inducted into the Down Beat magazine Hall of Fame, and received Kennedy Center Honors for her continuing contributions to the arts. The orchestra disbanded in , and Ella began to perform with smaller vocal groups, including the Three Keys. She also started to incorporate different techniques and tunes, calling on bebop timing and scat vocals, in her performances and recordings, and straying beyond what had been her most popular style, the novelty song.

With the US entry in the war, many performers contributed to the war effort by volunteering their time and talent. Just entering the peak of her career, Fitzgerald continued a rigorous touring schedule across the country during the war years, often sharing a bill with the Ink Spots. But she still performed large and small shows along the way for those in service.

Many famous African American performers, like Ella Fitzgerald and Lena Horne, suffered discrimination and segregation even while volunteering to entertain to support the war effort. Of 3, total USO clubs, of the clubs staffed by white volunteers admitted African Americans, but only sometimes on nights when white servicemen were barred from entry. Racist policies and practices led some black entertainers to distance themselves from official USO performances, while still devoting themselves to the overall cause by entertaining.

Some performers, like Lena Horne, performed solely at camps and facilities for the more than 1. Restrictions on travel and lack of accommodations were difficult for all during the war, but were a particular hardship on African Americans, who were confined to blacks-only cars on trains and prohibited from many hotels.

After her mother's death in , Fitzgerald ended up moving in with an aunt. She started skipping school. Fitzgerald was then sent to a special reform school but didn't stay there long. By , Fitzgerald was trying to make it on her own and living on the streets. Still harboring dreams of becoming an entertainer, she entered an amateur contest at Harlem's Apollo Theater. That unexpected performance at the Apollo helped set Fitzgerald's career in motion. She soon met bandleader and drummer Chick Webb and eventually joined his group as a singer.

Fitzgerald recorded "Love and Kisses" with Webb in and found herself playing regularly at one of Harlem's hottest clubs, the Savoy. Fitzgerald also put out her first No.

In addition to her work with Webb, Fitzgerald performed and recorded with the Benny Goodman Orchestra. Around this time, Fitzgerald was briefly married to Ben Kornegay, a convicted drug dealer and hustler. They wed in , but she soon had their union annulled.

Going out on her own, Fitzgerald landed a deal with Decca Records. She recorded some hit songs with the Ink Spots and Louis Jordan in the early s. Her career really began to take off in when she started working with Norman Granz, the future founder of Verve Records.

In the mids, Granz had started Jazz at the Philharmonic, a series of concerts and live records featuring most of the genre's great performers. Fitzgerald also hired Granz to become her manager.