Ella Jane Fitzgerald was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the “First Lady of Song”, “Queen of Jazz”, and “Lady Ella”. She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, intonation, and a “horn-like” improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing.
Fitzgerald was born on April 25, 1917, in Newport News, Virginia. She was the daughter of William Fitzgerald and Temperance “Tempie” Henry, both described as “mulatto” in the 1920 census. Her parents were unmarried but lived together in the East End section of Newport News for at least two and a half years after she was born.
In the early 1920s, Fitzgerald’s mother and her new partner, a Portuguese immigrant named Joseph da Silva, moved to Yonkers, in Westchester County, New York. Fitzgerald and her family had moved to nearby School Street, a poor Italian area in 1925. She began her formal education at the age of six and was an outstanding student, moving through a variety of schools before attending Benjamin Franklin Junior High School in 1929.
Ella Fitzgerald siblings: Meet Frances Da Silva
Frances Da Silva is her half-sister whom Ella Fitzgerald stayed close to for all of her life. Frances was born in 1923. There is not much to talk about Da Silva.
Source: Ghanafuo.com
