No, not the show. Ninety years ago today, the First Lady of Song, Ella Fitzgerald, was born in Newport News, Virginia. From the wikipedia entry:
Ella Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 – June 15, 1996), also known as Lady Ella and the First Lady of Song, is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th Century.[1]
With a vocal range spanning three octaves, she was noted for her purity of tone, near faultless phrasing and intonation, and a “horn-like” improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing. She is widely considered to have been one of the supreme interpreters of the Great American Songbook.
Of her, people said:
“Man, woman or child, Ella is the greatest of them all.” - Bing Crosby
“I call her the High Priestess of Song.” - Mel Torme
“I didn’t realize our songs were so good until Ella sang them.” - Ira Gershwin
“She had a vocal range so wide you needed an elevator to go from the top to the bottom. There’s nobody to take her place.” - David Brinkley
“Her artistry brings to mind the words of the maestro, Mr. Toscanini, who said concerning singers, ‘Either you’re a good musician or you’re not.’ In terms of musicianship, Ella Fitzgerald was beyond category.” - Duke Ellington
“Play an Ella ballad with a cat in the room, and the animal will invariably go up to the speaker, lie down and purr.” - Geoffrey Fidelman (author of the Ella Fitzgerald biography, First Lady of Song)
Her official site is here. Her wikipedia entry is here. And here she is in 1979 singing St. Louis Blues:
And there’s a compendium of Ella (and similar) clips on YouTube.
joubertconlon says:
I’m waiting for “Ella Fitzgerald: The Legendary First Lady of Song” DVD to arrive from Netflix.
April 25, 2007, 6:18 pmweaver says:
i love ella. one of my favorite cd sets is ella singing the gershwins. heaven.
April 26, 2007, 6:11 pm