Watching the magnificent Ella Fitzgerald duet with Frank Sinatra on AspireTV. This photo is not from that show, but it is in the same timeframe (1950s). Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images.
“I stole everything I ever heard, but mostly I stole from the horns.” ~ Ella Fitzgerald, born 96 years ago today in Newport News, Virginia. In this photo, she is performing at Mr. Kelly’s nightclub in Chicago in 1958. Photo by Yale Joel//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images.
Happy Easter! I hope you are enjoying the day if you celebrate. This Ella Fitzgerald photo was taken by the legendary William Gottlieb in November 1946. Lars Gotrich added the bunny ears for a 2011 NPR story on Easter and Jazz. Photo: The Library of Congress
Hazel Scott (far left) with her then husband, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., chat with Ella Fitzgerald at the opening night party for the club Bop City in New York City in April 1949. Photo: Martha Holmes//Time Life Pictures.
Stevie Wonder and Lou Rawls with Cab Calloway and Ella Fitzgerald. I almost fainted when I saw this quartet of legends from the 1970s. Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty.
Speaking of Marilyn Monroe and the Mocambo in Hollywood. In 1955, Ms. Monroe persuaded the owner of the Mocambo to hire Ella Fitzgerald (the Mocambo did not book Black artists). Ms. Fitzgerald on Ms. Monroe to Ms. magazine in 1972: “I oweMarilyn Monroe a real debt…it was because of her that I played the Mocambo, a very popular nightclub in the ’50s. She personally called the owner of the Mocambo, and told him she wanted me booked immediately, and if he would do it, she would take a front table every night. She told him - and it was true, due to Marilyn’s superstar status - that the press would go wild. The owner said yes, and Marilyn was there, front table, every night. The press went overboard. After that, I never had to play a small jazz club again. She was an unusual woman - a little ahead of her times. And she didn’t know it.”
Ella Fitzgerald in lace and a heart-shaped necklace her dressing room.
Merry Christmas from Vintage Black Glamour! Ella Fitzgerald says “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” circa 1960.
“Ella Fitzgerald is one of the most talented people in the world, and it embarrasses me that she cannot work the rooms that I work. The reason for it is so horrible. She’s not sexy. The men in the audience don’t want to take her home and go to bed. And yet she’s up there singing her heart out for one-third of the money they’re paying me. And I resent being in that category.” ~ Dorothy Dandridge
“Ella Fitzgerald is one of the most talented people in the world, and it embarrasses me that she cannot work the rooms that I work. The reason for it is so horrible. She’s not sexy. The men in the audience don’t want to take her home and go to bed. And yet she’s up there singing her heart out for one-third of the money they’re paying me. And I resent being in that category.” ~ Dorothy Dandridge
Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington in New York City, 1948.
The magnificent Ella Fitzgerald, born on this day in 1917, singing “Night and Day.”
Yes, those are bunny ears on Ella Fitzgerald: Hop and Bop: Jazz for Easter
Ella Fitzgerald + bunny ears = #awesomesauce
