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Ella Fitzgerald
Jazz vocalist known as the First Lady of Song
A shy teenager who stepped onto the Apollo stage on a dare and became the purest voice in the history of American song.
The rise
Orphaned and homeless as a teenager in New York, Fitzgerald entered an amateur-night contest at the Apollo Theater in 1934, intending to dance. Stage fright made her sing instead — and she won. Bandleader Chick Webb hired her on the spot. Her 1938 recording of 'A-Tisket, A-Tasket' made her a star at 21, and she led Webb's band after his death.