Princess and Queens part 3: Queen of Jazz and First Lady of Song – A N.I.P. Black History Feature

Ella Jane Fitzgerald, the vocalist behind “summertime” was the first Black Woman to have won a Grammy Award. The Jazz singer copped the award in 1958 twice, one for Best Jazz Performance, Soloist for Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irving Berlin Songbook.  

Ella Fitzgerald was an American Jazz vocalist with a vocal range spanning three octaves. Often referred to as the First Lady of Song, the Queen of Jazz and Lady Ella, she was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing and intonation, and a “horn-like” improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing.

Fitzgerald was a notable interpreter of the Great American Songbook.  Over the course of the 60-year recording career, she sold 40 million copies of her 70-plus albums, won 13 Grammy Awards and was awarded the National Medal of Arts by Ronald Reagan and the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George H. W. Bush.

A New Image Promotions publication in recognition of Black History Month February 2015