SINCE 1997





"I stole everything I ever heard, but mostly I stole from the horns."
~ Ella Fitzgerald

She was born Ella Jane Fitzgerald on April 25, 1917 in Newport News, Virginia. She loved listening to the recordings of Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby.

Ella  made her singing debut at seventeen on November 21, 1934 at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York. She was with Chick Webb's Orchestra through 1935, at Harlem's Savoy Ballroom.

"Flying Home"
"One of the most influential vocal jazz records of the decade."
~ The New York Times, 1945
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"I didn't realize our songs were so good until Ella sang them." 
~ Ira Gershwin
Her recording career lasted fifty-seven years. She won thirteen Grammy Awards, and was awarded the National Medal of Art by Ronald Reagan and the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George H. W. Bush.Sr.
"The only thing better than singing is more singing."
~ Ella Fitzgerald 
She died in Beverly Hills, California, June 15, 1996. She was 79.

Ella Fiztgerald may be the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th Century.


 
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MY MUSICAL LIFE
By Carl P. McConnell

Mabel McConnell talks about the Carter Family, Doc & Carl,
The Original Virginia Boys and the early days of radio.
 


1900s

1910s

1920s

1930s

1940s

 1950s

 1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

 

 SOUTHERN MUSIC