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Miss Ella Jane Fitzgerald
A brief biography of Ella
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Everywhere I go, when I meet new people and they find out what I do, they start telling me their very own Ella Fitzgerald stories. From the deli guy at the market who knew just how she liked her tuna salad (easy on the mayo) to the librarian at the local elementary school who saw her in concert forty years ago. We all love these stories, and if you have one you'd like to tell, please email it to us and we'll share it here with all of you who have been touched by Ella and her magical voice.
A couple of years ago, we were in Washington, D.C. for Jazz Appreciation Month and we met Dick Golden of George Washington University. Dick is a real jazz maven, a broadcaster and member of GW’s Global Media Institute. He was kind enough to share this memory with us:
I remember a beautiful June morning on Cape Cod (it was a Saturday) in 1996. I was listening to Ella’s wonderful recording of Irving Berlin’s “You Keep Coming Back Like A Song” (first sung by Bing Crosby in Blue Skies in 1946) and that’s when I heard the news that Ella had passed the day before in L.A. By 1996, I had lost my mother, father, a nephew and friends….and I reacted to Ella’s passing as I did to theirs. And it didn’t surprise me because I, like so many millions all around the world for over 60 years, had allowed Ella into my heart…how could we resist after hearing that purity of soul each time we had the great pleasure to hear her sing…what joy she still brings to life for all of us who know her artistry.
PS: If you Google Dick Golden, you can find some of his podcasts, I recommend the one with Ella’s dear friend, Tony Bennett.
And if you want to grab yourself a copy of Ella’s Irving Berlin Songbook, just Click Here >>
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