The Enduring Influence of Ella Fitzgerald

Celebrate the iconic American vocalist's birthday with a look back at her most famous songs.

To this day, Ella Fitzgerald is the only vocalist known as The First Lady of Song. Widely studied and revered as one of America’s greatest homegrown singers, Fitzgerald’s career spanned 62 of the 79 years she was alive. Her soothing tone and perfect pitch helped her to stand out beside grittier vocalists like Billie Holiday, Carmen McRae, Dinah Washington, and Sarah Vaughan.

Fitzgerald’s big break was at the early age of 17. The amateur singer won a contest at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, where (lucky for her) bandleader Benny Goodman happened to be sitting in the audience. Goodman spotted Fitzgerald’s skill and invited her to front his orchestra and the orchestra of his friend, Chick Webb. The few gigs Goodman allotted her were just enough to explode the young jazz, pop, and scat singer’s career. By the late ’50s and early ’60s, she was not only The First Lady of Song, but also The Queen of Jazz, and close personal friends with Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe. She recorded countless chart topping solo works, but also collaborated with legends of the time like Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Carlos Jobim, Joe Pass, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington.

In 1996, Fitzgerald sadly passed as a result of diabetes. However, her amazing career has been far from forgotten as she remains an icon of the American songbook. In honor of her birthday, L’OFFICIEL recounts her most renowned tracks.

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Photographed here in 1938, the young singer’s collaborative record “I’m Making Believe,” done with the Ink Spots group topped the charts at No. 1.

Fitzgerald's collaboration with Chick Webb in the early 1940s, “A-Tisket-A-Tasket,” launched both of their careers into the national spotlight.

Much of Fitzgerald’s music is derived and/or in tribute to musical theatre, like her 1956 hit “Bewitched,” taken originally from the 1940 musical “Pal Joey.”

“But Not For Me,” is another tribute track, this time to the 1930 Gershwin musical “Girl Crazy.”

Recorded with the famous trumpeter Harry “Sweets” Edison, “East of The Sun (West of The Moon),” is a slow, but exciting melody.

One of the only recordings of Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra together, is the raucous live performance track included as part of the “A Man and His Music + Sinatra and Friends” DVD collection of seven hour-long specials Sinatra did between 1965 to 1981. On it the pair sing “Lady is The Tramp.”

“Darn That Dream” was recorded in 1962, and is a perfect picture of Fitzgerald at the height of her career when across the country she was known as The First Lady of Song.

When the singer was around 69 year old she recorded ‘“Easy Livin.” The song was featured on a duet album with jazz guitarist Joe Pass, and helped solidify the title Fitzgerald took up later in her career: The Queen of Jazz.

“Misty” is a classic Ella Fitzgerald track, from its melodramatic lyrics to the creative melodic tweaks the singer makes throughout.

“How High The Moon” starts with a flaming scat solo, one of Fitzgerlad’s defining lyrical talents.

Similar to “How High the Moon,” “Airman Special” begins with a wild scat solo, but showcases her talents even further as it is full of cheekily inserted lines from songs “Jingle Bells,” “The Christmas Song,” “Amore,” “Davy Crocket,” and more.