She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, intonation, absolute pitch, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing.

After a tumultuous adolescence, Fitzgerald found stability in musical success with the Chick Webb Orchestra, performing across the country but most often associated with the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem.

[2] She was the daughter of William Ashland Fitzgerald, a transfer wagon driver from Blackstone, Virginia, and Temperance "Tempie" Henry, both described as mulatto in the 1920 census.

In the early 1920s, Fitzgerald's mother and her new partner, a Portuguese immigrant named Joseph da Silva,[3] moved to Yonkers, New York.

[11] This seemingly swift change in her circumstances, reinforced by what Fitzgerald biographer Stuart Nicholson describes as rumors of "ill treatment" by her stepfather, leaves him to speculate that Da Silva might have abused her.

[14] While she seems to have survived during 1933 and 1934 in part by singing on the streets of Harlem, Fitzgerald debuted at the age of 17 on November 21, 1934, in one of the earliest Amateur Nights at the Apollo Theater.

[20] Although "reluctant to sign her...because she was gawky and unkempt, a 'diamond in the rough,'"[9] after some convincing by Ali, Webb offered her the opportunity to test with his band at a dance at Yale University.

[15] Met with approval by both audiences and her fellow musicians, Fitzgerald was asked to join Webb's orchestra and gained acclaim as part of the group's performances at Harlem's Savoy Ballroom.

[23] Ella and the band recorded for Decca and appeared at the Roseland Ballroom, where they received national exposure on NBC radio broadcasts.

[25][26] While working for Decca Records, she had hits with Bill Kenny & the Ink Spots,[27] Louis Jordan,[28] and the Delta Rhythm Boys.

With the demise of the swing era and the decline of the great touring big bands, a major change in jazz music occurred.

The advent of bebop led to new developments in Fitzgerald's vocal style, influenced by her work with Dizzy Gillespie's big band.

[31] This was the first of Gordon's famous "Big Show" promotions and the "package" tour also included Buddy Rich, Artie Shaw and comedian Jerry Colonna.

Although the four members of Fitzgerald's entourage – Fitzgerald, her pianist John Lewis, her assistant (and cousin) Georgiana Henry, and manager Norman Granz – all had first-class tickets on their scheduled Pan-American Airlines flight from Honolulu to Australia, they were ordered to leave the aircraft after they had already boarded and were refused permission to re-board the aircraft to retrieve their luggage and clothing.

Although a contemporary Australian press report[32] quoted an Australian Pan-Am spokesperson who denied that the incident was racially based, Fitzgerald, Henry, Lewis and Granz filed a civil suit for racial discrimination against Pan-Am in December 1954[33] and in a 1970 television interview Fitzgerald confirmed that they had won the suit and received what she described as a "nice settlement".

"[9] On March 15, 1955, Ella Fitzgerald opened her initial engagement at the Mocambo nightclub in Hollywood,[35][36] after Marilyn Monroe lobbied the owner for the booking.

African-American singers Herb Jeffries,[38] Eartha Kitt,[39] and Joyce Bryant[40] all played the Mocambo in 1952 and 1953, according to stories published at the time in Jet magazine and Billboard.

The sets are the most well-known items in her discography and by 1956 Fitzgerald's recordings were showcased nationally by Ben Selvin within the RCA Thesaurus transcription library.

The Song Book series ended up becoming Fitzgerald's most critically acclaimed and commercially successful work, and probably her most significant offering to American culture.

While recording the Song Books and the occasional studio album, Fitzgerald toured 40 to 45 weeks per year in the United States and internationally, under the tutelage of Norman Granz.

Ella in London recorded live in 1974 with pianist Tommy Flanagan, guitarist Joe Pass, bassist Keter Betts and drummer Bobby Durham, was considered by many to be some of her best work.

[44] Fitzgerald played the part of singer Maggie Jackson in Jack Webb's 1955 jazz film Pete Kelly's Blues.

"[43] Amid The New York Times pan of the film when it opened in August 1955, the reviewer wrote, "About five minutes (out of ninety-five) suggest the picture this might have been.

[56] Fitzgerald's most famous collaborations were with the vocal quartet Bill Kenny & the Ink Spots, trumpeter Louis Armstrong, the guitarist Joe Pass, and the bandleaders Count Basie and Duke Ellington.

[59] In March 1990, she appeared at the Royal Albert Hall in London, England, with the Count Basie Orchestra for the launch of Jazz FM, plus a gala dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel at which she performed.

[64] Her second marriage was in December 1947, to the famous bass player Ray Brown, whom she had met while on tour with Dizzy Gillespie's band a year earlier.

She had even gone as far as furnishing an apartment in Oslo, but the affair was quickly forgotten when Larsen was sentenced to five months' hard labor in Sweden for stealing money from a young woman to whom he had previously been engaged.

[69] Bill Reed, author of Hot from Harlem: Twelve African American Entertainers, referred to Fitzgerald as the "Civil Rights Crusader", facing discrimination throughout her career.

[79] Across town at the University of Southern California, she received the USC "Magnum Opus" Award, which hangs in the office of the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation.

"Ella, elle l'a", a tribute to Fitzgerald written by Michel Berger and performed by French singer France Gall, was a hit in Europe in 1987 and 1988.