This collection consists of photographs, music sheets, folios, and ozalid copies

Ella Jane Fitzgerald was born on Apr. 25, 1917 in Newport News, VA; grew up in Yonkers, NY, and in 1932 went to live with an aunt in Harlem; was virtually a homeless school dropout who danced and sang on street corners for money and was in state reform school for over a year; won an amateur talent contest at the Apollo theater; sang with Chick Webb Orchestra, 1934-39; became recording artist for Decca (1936-55) and Verve (which became Pablo Records); recorded nearly every year from 1939-89, while touring with jazz bands and more than 40 symphony orchestras; won 12 Grammy awards and countless other awards, including Commander of Arts and Letters, Paris (1990), the American Music award (1978), National Medal of the Arts (1987), and was honored by the Kennedy Center (1979); her numerous recordings include her series of eight "Songbook" albums made from 1956-64, featuring the music of Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin, Duke Ellington, Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern, and Johny Mercer; she died on June 15, 1996 in Beverly Hills, CA.

1 box (0.5 linear ft.)

Copyright has not been assigned to the UCLA Performing Arts Special Collections. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Librarian for Performing Arts Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Performing Arts Special Collectionsas the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder(s), which must also be obtained.

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Advance notice required for access.