Throughout history the music industry has had a few people who have been able to change the sound or make-up of music. Whether it be for their virtuosic skill on their chosen instrument, or because of their revolutionary sound. One such artist that comes to mind is Ella Fitzgerald, who using her incredible singing skill was able to transcend into one of the greatest of all time.
Ella Fitzgerald was born on April 25, 1917, and had a troubled childhood. Her parents split up shortly after her birth. However, her and her mother moved in with her mother’s boyfriend to Yonkers, New York. Her family then grew with the birth of her half-sister in 1923, Frances. They struggled financially leaving Ella to help as a messenger ‘running numbers’ and as a lookout for a brothel. Her Mother, however, would pass away in 1932 leaving Ella to live with her aunt. She would end up living on the streets by 1934 and entering an amateur contest at Harlem's Apollo Theater. At the contest, she sang Hoagy Carmichael’s tune 'Judy' as well as 'The Object of My Affection', wowing the audience. Ella Fitzgerald went on to win the contest's $25 first place prize. This would end up propelling her career forward, where she later met bandleader and drummer Chick Webb and eventually joined his group as a singer. Following Chick Webb's death in 1939, Ella then became the leader of the band, which was renamed ‘Ella Fitzgerald and Her Famous Orchestra’ (Some sources refer to the group as ‘Ella Fitzgerald and Her Famous Band’).
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Her singing was greatly influenced by the experimental music of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, called bebop. She would use a lot of bebob techniques when she sung, however she was most commonly known for her legendary scatting skill. Scatting is an energetic style of vocal improvisation where a rapid-fire succession of mostly nonsense syllables, often imitating the melodic line of a horn instrument, were sung to thrilling, unpredictable effect. This would be further emphasized by her peers Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, who would encourage her to incorporate these elements in her singing. Dizzy, in particular, would encourage her to improvise in her scat solo’s.
Her influence on music to this day has influenced not only the style of many other musicians, but also women and people of color. She is recognized as being ‘the greatest’ by Bing Crosby, one of the biggest multimedia stars of all time, and the ‘First Lady of Song’, opening the doorway for women and people of color to be mainstream success. This influence extends to today, as one of the world’s biggest female pop stars of this generation, Adele, describes discovering Ella Fitzgerald (and Etta James) as ‘an awakening’.
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