Ella Fitzgerald Research Paper

Ella Fitzgerald was born on April 25th, 1917 in Newport News, VA. Soon after her birth her parents separated. She and her mother, Temperance (Tempie), moved to Yonkers, NY. They later moved in with her mother's boyfriend, Joseph De Silva, and in 1923 her half-sister Frances was born. She began referring to Joe as her step-father. Her step-father worked as a part-time chauffeur and dug ditches and her mother worked at a laundry place and did catering on the side. Ella worked worked odd jobs to help out her family, including a job working for local gamblers as a runner picking up people's bets and dropping off money. Growing up use considered herself to be a tomboy and liked to play in baseball games in her neighborhood. She also loved singing and dancing and liked to go to Harlem with her friends to go see shows at the Apollo Theatre.
Sadly in 1932, her mother passed away from injuries she sustained in a car accident. She stayed with her stepfather for a brief period before she went to live with her sister, Virginia. Soon after she left, her stepfather died and her half-sister Frances joined them. Ella became extremely depressed. She consistently skipped school and her grades decreased. After getting into legal trouble she was sent to a reform school. This was made life even worse for her, with her supervisors at school beating her. …show more content…
She won the opportunity to perform at the Harlem Opera House with the Tiny Bradshaw band in January 1935. While at the Harlem Opera House she met Chick Webb, who was a bandleader and drummer. Though he had already hired a male singer to tour with his band he was impressed with her. His band was going to perform at Yale University and he gave Ella a chance to sit in with them. He said that if the kids enjoyed her, she could stay. Though the kids proved to be a tough room to impress, she pulled it off and way brought on to tour with them and paid $12.50 per

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Ella Fitzgerald Research Paper