Ella Jane Fitzgerald (1917 - 1996)

Born 25 Apr 1917 in Warwick, Virginia, United States

Ancestors

Died 15 Jun 1996 at age 79 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, United States

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Biography

Ella Fitzgerald is Notable.

Ella Fitzgerald was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Ella Fitzgerald was a legendary jazz singer whose prolific career spanned 60 years, during which she received numerous awards, including thirteen Grammy Awards. She was recognized with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992.^[1]

Ella Fitzgerald, daughter of William Fitzgerald and Temperance Williams, was born on 25 April 1917 in Warwick, Virginia, United States.^[2] At the time of her birth her father worked on a grain ship in Newport News, Virginia. At age two she was living with her parents in Newport News.^[3]

By the time Ella was twelve, her mother had left her father and had married a Portuguese immigrant from Cape Verde, Antonio Corri. They were living in Yonkers, Westchester County, New York and Ella had a half-sister, Frances, born in 1923.^[4] After Ella's mother died in 1932, leaving her orphaned, she ended up in the New York State Training School for Girls at Hudson, N.Y., a dilapidated reformatory where she spent a year before leaving to take her chances in New York City to try to make a career in show business.^[5]

Ella's career started to take off after she won an amateur singing contest at the Apollo Theater in Harlem in 1934. She was hired with Chick Webb's band, and recorded her first hit with them in 1939. In 1942, she started her solo career. She won numerous awards including thirteen Grammy Awards^[6] and was recognized for lifetime achievements with the Kennedy Center Award in 1979, the National Medal of Arts in 1987^[7], and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992.^[8]. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1995 ^[9].

Ella married Ben Kornegay in St Louis, Missouri in 1941,^[10] but the marriage was annulled in 1942.^[1][11] She later married Ray Brown, a famed jazz bass player with the Dizzy Gillespie band, in Youngstown, Ohio in 1947. ^[12][13] Ray and Ella adopted an infant son, jazz musician Raymond Brown Jr, the child of her half-sister Frances, before they divorced in 1953.^[13]

Ella passed away in 1996 in Los Angeles at the age of 79.^[14]. She has a crypt in the Sunset Mission Mausoleum in the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Ingelwood, California.^[15]

Research Notes

Many articles list her stepfather as Joseph Da Silva, and her half-sister as Frances Da Silva, however the 1925 census lists the stepfather as Anthony Corri and her half-sister as Frances Corri.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Wikipedia Ella Fitzgerald
2. ↑ Birth: "Virginia, U.S., Birth Records, 1912-2015, Delayed Birth Records, 1721-1911"
   Virginia Department of Health; Richmond, Virginia; Virginia, Births, 1864-2016
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 9277 #165679 (accessed 3 February 2022)
   Ella Jane Fitzgerald born on 25 Apr 1917, child of William Fitzgerald & Tempie Williams, in Warwick, Virginia, USA.
3. ↑ 1920 census showing Ella and both her parents: "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MJNP-CT4 : accessed 18 April 2018), Ella Fitzgerald in household of William Fitzgerald, Newport News Ward 2, Newport News (Independent City), Virginia, United States; citing ED 99, sheet 1A, line 43, family 13, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), roll 1899; FHL microfilm 1,821,899.
4. ↑ 1930 census showing Ella with step-father, mother and half-sister (very badly recorded): "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X4GP-WXQ : accessed 18 April 2018), Ella Fitzgerald in household of Corri ?Ampi, Yonkers, Westchester, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 49, sheet 6A, line 47, family 118, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1668; FHL microfilm 2,341,402.
5. ↑ "Ward of the State; The Gap in Ella Fitzgerald's Life" by Nina Bernstein, 23 Jun 1996 in the New York Times (requires paid subscription)
6. ↑ GRAMMY History - Ella Fitzgerald
7. ↑ National Medal of Arts
8. ↑ Presidential Medal of Freedom to Ella Fitzgerald, awarded by President George Bush
9. ↑ National Women's Hall of Fame, 1995
10. ↑ Kornegay-Fitzgerald Marriage License St Louis Dispatch (St Louis, Missouri) 28 Dec 1941, p. 26
11. ↑ Henry Weinstein, "Ella Fitzgerald, Jazz's First Lady of Song, Dies," The Los Angeles Times, 16 Jun 1996, page A1 & A26; image copy, Newspapers.com, (page 1 and page 26 : accessed 26 Dec 2022).
12. ↑ Fitzgerald-Brown marriage 1947, The California Eagle, Los Angeles, California, 25 Dec 1947, Thu, p. 19
13. ↑ ^{13.0 13.1} Fitzgerald Divorce Filed 1953 El Paso Times (El Paso, Texas), 27 Aug 1953, Thu, p. 1, Marriage date 10 Dec 1948
14. ↑ Death: "California, U.S., Death Index, 1940-1997"
    Place: Los Angeles; Date: 15 Jun 1996; Social Security: 059122595
    Ancestry Record 5180 #2339476 (accessed 3 February 2022)
    Ella Jane Fitzgerald death 15 Jun 1996 in Los Angeles.
15. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #1328 Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, Los Angeles

• Ella Fitzgerald living at the Hotel Braddock, 1940: "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K3YV-46W : accessed 18 April 2018), Ella Fitzgerald, Assembly District 19, Manhattan, New York City, New York, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 31-1704, sheet 81A, line 26, family , Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 2665.
• Social Security: "U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007"
  Ancestry Record 60901 #46014401 (accessed 3 February 2022)
  Name: Ella Fitzgerald; Gender: Female; Race: Black; Birth Date: 25 Apr 1918; Birth Place: Newport News, Virginia; Death Date: 15 Jun 1996; Father: William Fitzgerald; Mother: Tempie Williams; SSN: 059122595; Notes: Sep 1938: Name listed as ELLA FITZGERALD.

See also:

• Official web site
• Facebook Ella Fitzgerald
• Artist on Spotify
• This WikiTree profile is referenced from Wikidata: Item Q1768, en:Wikipedia
• Tragic Things About Ella Fitzgerald