Fast Facts

Birth Name: Ella Fitzgerald
Nickname: “Lady Ella” and “First Lady of Song”
Birth date: April 25, 1917
Birth place: Newport News, Va.
Death date: June 15, 1996
Death place: Beverly Hills, Calif.

Parents: William Fitzgerald, Temperance Siblings: Frances Da Silva (half sister)

Married: Benny Kornegay (1939-1940), Ray Brown (1946-1952)
Children: Ray Brown, Jr.
Grandchildren: Alice Brown

First stage performance: Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater, 1934
First recording: “Love and Kisses,” Decca – 1936
First number one song: “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” – 1938

Favorite sports teams: (Los Angeles) Dodgers, Lakers

Did You Know?

As a child, Ella enjoyed playing baseball.
Ella’s favorite singers as a child were Louis Armstrong and Connee Boswell.
Ella made her first recording on June 12, 1935 with Chick Webb. It was called “Love and Kisses.
In the 1940s, Ella was known as one of the best scat singers in the world.
Throughout her career, Ella recorded at least 200 albums.