ELLA FITZGERALD

EARLY LIFE

• She was born in 1917 in New Ports, Virginia
• Whenever her parents split up, Ella and her mom moved in with her mom's soon to be boyfriend in New York
• Sadly in 1932, her mother died from a heart attack
• From the trauma of her step-dad abusing her, she soon ran away to her aunt
• She was the placed in New York Training School for Girls, but she the escaped and was homeless for a while

GROWING UP

• Made her singing debut at 17 on November 21, 1934, at the Apollo Theater
• In1935, Ella won the chance to preform a week with The Tiny Bradshaw band
• New York Times wrote,"reluctant to sign her....she was gawky and unkempt, a diamond in the rough."
• She began regularly singing with Webb's orchestra through 1935 at Harlem's Savoy Ballroom

ADULTHOOD

• The history from Ella's career are housed at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History
• Her music is stored at the Library of Congress
• There is a bronze sculpture of Ella Fitzgerald in Yonkers, in the city where she grew up
• In 2008, The Drowning Gross Cultural Center named their new theatre the Ella Fitzgerald Theatre
• In 2012, Rod Stewart preformed a virtual duet with Ella on his Christmas album