Ella Fitzgerald was born in Newport News, Virginia, on 25 April 1917. She was orphaned at the age of 15 and was placed in the Colored Orphan Asylum in Riverdale. From there, she was transferred to the New York State Training School for Girls, a reformatory later revealed to be involved in wide-spread physical abuse. Ella was literally living in the streets of Harlem when she was finally discovered as a musical talent. She was originally interested in dance, but her music simply overtook destiny. Unfortunately for the time, glamorous movie stars were enjoying worldwide success via the silver screen, and homely, poor, nervous and shy black singers were not the rage of the day. Ella had intended to dance when she made her singing debut in 1934 at the Harlem Apollo Theatre, New York, on amateur night. When she lost her nerve, she instead launched into two songs - "Object of My Affection" and "Judy". She won first prize. Bandleader Chick Webb took noticed of this talented songstress and personally coached the shy teenager, introducing her one night at the Savoy Theatre, as his orchestra's singer. And so began Ella Fitzgerald's remarkable singing career. Ira Gershwin once said of her "I didn't realise our songs were so good until Ella sang them."
Ellašs legendary music career spanned an incredible six decades, with recordings in the thousands. She never received formal vocal training, yet Ella's technique and range rivalled that of the trained singer. Throughout her three-octave vocal range, Ella's voice remained in perfect clarity, her diction was unfailingly crisp and her intonation was absolutely flawless. Coupled with this textbook-perfect technique, Ella had improvisation talent to rival the best jazz instrumentalists. Her spontaneous scat vocalisations were a trademark of her style. Ella married twice, first at the age of 24 to Benjamin Kornegay, and then again to bass player Ray Brown at the age of 30. Both marriages ended in divorce. A diabetic for many years, Ellašs vision and health were seriously affected by the disease, as well as a propensity to heaviness. Sadly, in 1992, both of her legs were amputated below the knee due to circulatory problems. She did, however, remain an active performer until 1992. She died on 15 June 1996 at the age of 79, and the world lost one of its finest musical legends. Through her indelible music, the legend lives on.