Jalyn Olivas

7th period
Mr. Kader
Influential American

Ella Fitzgerald an influential black woman who changed the sound of music,

treatment for singers and those of color in the industry. Fitzgerald was a singer how had

had an effect on the sound of jazz and scat a type of music with her amazing vocal

abilities. She was a role model for many due to her rising up from personal hardship.

Ella also changed the music industry for those of color. She had also fought against the

odds to become one of the most well-known singers by fighting stereotypes.

Ella Fitzgerald was born in 1917. Her parents were William Fitzgerald and

Temperance "Tempie" Williams Fitzgerald. Her parents shortly after separated after she

was born. She Lived with her mother, boyfriend, and sister. Due to the financial

struggle, Fitzgerald had taken up a job doing the number for a brothel. But as she

mainly wanted to do dance as a career. In 1932 her mother had passed in which he

went to go live with her aunt. Not going to school then caused Fitzgerald tried to make it

on her own in the streets. But she was placed in a colored orphanage but ran away.

Later on, Ella decided to go to the Harlem’s Apollo theater. Fitzgerald then showed her

musical talents and had won $25 dollars. This is what began her career.

During Ella’s career, she had a large impact on how the music industry worked

by how she became an artist and how her songs influenced many. Due to Fitzgerald's

amazing performance, she had met Chick Webb who was apart of a band in which she

became apart of as well. In 1935 she recorded the song “Love and Kisses” in which she

had played many times. As the article Ella Fitzgerald states that, “ Fitzgerald also put
out her first No. 1 hit, 1938's "A-Tisket, A-Tasket," which she co-wrote. Later that year

Ella recorded her second hit, "I Found My Yellow Basket." Both of these songs are also

what made her stand apart with her music. Fitzgerald's then started to become well

known for her music. She also started to create collabs with other singers and artists.

With her rising fame, she decided to introduce scat singing. In the video Ella Fitzgerald

on Aspel, 3rd of March 1990 shows her singing different songs and shows how she

does scat singing. WIth her scat singing and popular vocal abilities and ability to mimic

instrumental sounds became a famous technique of Fitzgerald's.

When Fitzgerald was younger she had gone through many childhood hardships.

When Ella was a child her mother, Temperance “Tempie” Fitzgerald had passed in

1932. Leaving her 15-year-old daughter as an orphan, as well as leaving her in a very

vulnerable time, broke at the time of the great depression. In the article, NPR Early

Hardship Couldn't Muffle Ella Fitzgerald's Joy states, “At one point, she was arrested for

truancy and sent to a reform school, where she was regularly beaten. So she ran away

— this awkward, gawky girl with skinny legs and old, cast-off boots — with no money,

living on the streets and sleeping where she could.” This shows the struggle she had to

persevere through as a child to do what she could to keep herself afloat during hard

times. Fitzgerald later lived with her Aunt but later Ella ran away and dropped out of

school. Later on, she was then put into Riverdale Colored Orphan Asylum and ran

away. In the article of History.com states, “Which earned her a trip upstate to a tough

reformatory near Albany called the New York State Training School for Girls.” Due to

her running away, this allowed her to be placed in the reformatory.

 Lastly, Ella Fitzgerald had to fight again stereotypes as a performer. For example

on CBC a new casting channel had Fitzgerald's encounter being racially profiled by an

airline company in which she sued them. She stated that she wanted to mainly prove a

point and made sure that the man knew what he did was wrong. Even though she had

been stereotyped she had still preserved through it. Fitzgerald later became the first

African-American woman to win a Grammy Award in 1958. Throughout the years Ella

would earn 13 Grammys, and sell more than 40 million albums. On the website

Biography.com it states that “In all, Fitzgerald recorded more than 200 albums and

some 2,000 songs in her lifetime. Her total record sales exceeded 40 million. Her many

accolades included 13 Grammy Awards, the NAACP Image Award for Lifetime

Achievement and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.” This shows how Ella Fitzgerald

was a very hard working woman to earn many awards. Though she had to go through

people being stereotypical and rude to her over the years she preserved to become the

greatest.

Some may argue that Ella Fitzgerald was not an influential person due to her

being a bad child. For example, she had dropped out of school, and ran away multiple

times. History.com states that “dropped out of school and ran into trouble with the law

while working as a lookout in a bordello and courier for a local numbers-runner.” People

may not agree with what she had done, due to Fitzgerald being a bad influence. But all

though she had done these things it was when she was a child and during hard times of

her mother passing and time period. But when in school those stated that had a passion

and that she would be the one practicing.

 Ella Fitzgerald was an amazing woman who changed the world of music itself

and influenced other that no matter what had occurred in the past you can persevere

through it and become better. She fought against the stereotypes against others and

keep going when those wanted to knock her down, she fought against hardships in her

childhood, and influenced the form of music itself. This then allowed for people to see

how truly amazing she was.