'First Lady of Jazz' and 13-Grammy Award Winner Died 30 Years Ago Today
Singer Ella Fitzgerald was known as "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella" over the course of her career. The improvisational genius and iconic singer was known for her tone, clarity, and athletic vocal ability as a singer. With a career spanning almost 60 years, Fitzgerald gave her last public performance in 1993, and she passed away three years later in 1996. She was 79 years old.
Fitzgerald was born in 1917 in Newport News, Virginia, Her parents were unmarried, and she and her sister moved with their mother to Yonkers with her mother's new boyfriend in the early 1920s.
She started school at the age of six and was an excellent student until the death of her mother in 1932. At that point Fitzgerald started struggling, skipping school, and even worked for a time for a Mafia-affiliated numbers runner. Her troubles led her to a period of homelessness and she was even placed in an asylum and reform school. She never spoke publicly about this time in her life.
In 1934 at the age of 17, Fitzgerald entered an amateur night at Harlem's Apollo Theater. Initially she had intended to dance, but she was intimidated by the competition around her and opted to sing instead performing "Judy" and "The Object of My Affection." This proved to be the right choice, as she won the competition giving her $25.
Following her win at the Apollo amateur night, Fitzgerald was introduced to the famous drummer and bandleader Chick Webb. After some convincing, he agreed to make her a featured vocalist for his ensemble, despite being "reluctant to sign her...because she was gawky and unkempt, a 'diamond in the rough.'" With Webb and his band, Fitzgerald rose to fame following her 1938 recording of "A-Tisket, A-Tasket." Webb passed in 1939, and Fitzgerald went on to lead the band for two more years under the name "Ella Fitzgerald and Her Famous Orchestra."
In the mid-1940s, Fitzgerald began working with manager Norman Granz who would go on to form Verve Records specifically for her. Prior to Verve, Fitzgerald had hits with Bill Kenny and the Ink Spots, Louis Jordan, and the Delta Rhythm Boys. Her partnership with Granz led to her iconic Songbookseries, where she recorded staple songs by the likes of Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, and Gershwin.
The Songbook series would go on to be considered Fitzgerald's most notable work. Following her death in 1996 the New York Times wrote: "These albums were among the first pop records to devote such serious attention to individual songwriters, and they were instrumental in establishing the pop album as a vehicle for serious musical exploration."
Over the course of her career, Fitzgerald won 13 Grammy Awards and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1967. In 1959 at the first awards ever, Fitzgerald became the first African-American woman to win. Fitzgerald also was the recipient of a Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Medal of Honor Award, a National Medal of Art, a Presidential Medal of Freedom, and an honorary doctorate from Yale.
🎬SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox🎬
Related: 1964 Beatles Cover Became a Hit That Paul McCartney Was ‘Honored By' 62 Years Ago
Copyright 2026 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
This story was originally published June 15, 2026 at 6:07 PM.