Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald was an American jazz singer, born in Newport News, Virginia, in 1917 and raised in Yonkers, New York, who began her professional career in the mid-1930s performing swing and big band jazz. Known for her scat singing, wide vocal range and precise intonation, her style evolved from swing-era big band work into intimate small-group and orchestral jazz settings and helped shape vocal technique and repertoire within American jazz and popular music.