{"id":5382616,"date":"2025-02-14T15:35:36","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T15:35:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.life.com\/?p=5382616"},"modified":"2025-02-14T15:36:25","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T15:36:25","slug":"ella-fitzgerald-the-first-lady-of-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.life.com\/arts-entertainment\/ella-fitzgerald-the-first-lady-of-song\/","title":{"rendered":"Ella Fitzgerald: The First Lady of Song"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Ella Fitzgerald has been described as &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.arts.gov\/honors\/jazz\/ella-fitzgerald\">perhaps the quintessential jazz singer<\/a>.&#8221; This live performance of &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/track\/3ygXJO2s9OQFZHBwIEcY7X\">Let&#8217;s Do It (Let&#8217;s Fall In Love)<\/a>&#8221; is one of the countless examples of Ella Fitzgerald thrilling an audience with her talents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1955 LIFE&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/photographer\/eliot-elisofon\/\">Eliot Elisofon<\/a> photographed Fitzgerald for a story on <a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=HlQEAAAAMBAJ&amp;pg=PA45&amp;dq=Ella+Fitzgerald&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwihsPD3wcGLAxW4KlkFHfTDJ_44FBDoAXoECAoQAw#v=onepage&amp;q=Ella%20Fitzgerald&amp;f=false\">the top jazz stars of the day<\/a>, and she was the only woman included in the group.  LIFE wrote of her, &#8220;Ella Fitzgerald, who sings love ballads daintily, can roar on like a trombone through a jazz classic. Her most famous number is &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=pCBP2rD1sPw\">A-Tisket, A-Tasket<\/a>,&#8221; but it is her many hotter songs that keep her the first lady of jazz year after year.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1958 LIFE staff photographer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/photographer\/yale-joel\/\">Yale Joel<\/a> took his turn shooting Fitzgerald. He caught her performing at <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mister_Kelly%27s\">Mister Kelly&#8217;s<\/a>, a renowned jazz club in Chicago. The photo places the viewer in a front row seat. Fitzgerald, elegantly dressed, sings with her eyes closed and hand to heart on a low stage that has her nearly at level with the audience. That photo is one of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lifephotostore.com\/us-en\/fine-art-photography\/concert-and-music\/jazz-music\/us-jazz-music\/ella-fitzgerald\/photo\/life-archives\/ella-fitzgerald-performs-in-1958\">the most popular images in LIFE&#8217;s print store<\/a>, which is a tribute to both Joel&#8217;s skill and Fitzgerald&#8217;s enduring popularity\u2014several of her songs have <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/artist\/5V0MlUE1Bft0mbLlND7FJz\">more than 100 million plays on Spotify<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Included here are several other of Joel&#8217;s shots from Mister Kelly&#8217;s, and also other instances in which LIFE&#8217;s photographers documented this great artist. <\/p>\n\n\n<blockquote id=\"single-block_67ae57ec9ee23\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=5382619 desc=\"\" caption=\"Eliot Eilsofon\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock\" title=\"Singer Ella Fitzgerald holding a basket of flowers as she sings A-Tisket, A-Tasket in front of backdrop, 1946.\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/13203532\/00274970-775x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Singer Ella Fitzgerald holding a basket of flowers as she sings A-Tisket, A-Tasket in front of backdrop, 1946.<\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Eliot Eilsofon\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote id=\"single-block_67ae57e09ee22\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=5382617 desc=\"\" caption=\"Yale Joel\/Life PIcture Collection\/Shutterstock\" title=\"Jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald performed at Mister Kelly&#039;s nightclub in Chicago, 1958.\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/13203509\/00168188-1024x692.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald performed at Mister Kelly&#8217;s nightclub in Chicago, 1958.<\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Yale Joel\/Life PIcture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote id=\"single-block_67ae627832c8c\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=5382618 desc=\"\" caption=\"Yale Joel\/Life PIcture Collection\/Shutterstock\" title=\"Bathed in red light, American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald performed her eyes closed, at Mister Kelly&#039;s nightclub, Chicago, 1958.\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/13203520\/00168201-1024x665.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Bathed in red light, American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald performed her eyes closed, at Mister Kelly&#8217;s nightclub, Chicago, 1958.<\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Yale Joel\/Life PIcture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote id=\"single-block_67af57bcd10ed\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=5382653 desc=\"\" caption=\"Yale Joel\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock\" title=\"Ella Fitzgerald performed at Mister Kelly&#039;s nightclub in Chicago, 1958.\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/14144850\/00168183-1008x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Ella Fitzgerald performed at Mister Kelly&#8217;s nightclub in Chicago, 1958.<\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Yale Joel\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote id=\"single-block_67af59efd10ee\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=5382654 desc=\"\" caption=\"Yale Joel\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock\" title=\"Ella Fitzgerald performing at Mister Kelly&#039;s nightclub in Chicago, 1958.\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/14144854\/00168178-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Ella Fitzgerald performing at Mister Kelly&#8217;s nightclub in Chicago, 1958.<\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Yale Joel\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote id=\"single-block_67ae57609ee21\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=5382622 desc=\"\" caption=\".Martha Holmes\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock\" title=\"Ella Fitzgerald mingled with people who had come to hear her perform at the opening night of the Bop City nightclub in New York City, April 1949.\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/13203544\/116382650-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Ella Fitzgerald mingled with people who had come to hear her perform at the opening night of the Bop City nightclub in New York City, April 1949.<\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">.Martha Holmes\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote id=\"single-block_67ae57fa9ee24\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=5382620 desc=\"\" caption=\"Martha Holmes\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock\" title=\"Songbird Ella Fitzgerald sang at opening at the Bop City nightclub in New York City, 1949.\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/13203535\/00704393-832x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Songbird Ella Fitzgerald sang at opening at the Bop City nightclub in New York City, 1949.<\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Martha Holmes\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote id=\"single-block_67ae58079ee25\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=5382621 desc=\"\" caption=\"Martha Holmes\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock\" title=\"Ella Fitzgerald sang during opening night of Bop City nightclub in New York City, April 1949.\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/13203540\/116382649-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Ella Fitzgerald sang during opening night of Bop City nightclub in New York City, April 1949.<\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Martha Holmes\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote id=\"single-block_67ae581c9ee26\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=3878079 desc=\"The magnificent Ella Fitzgerald at the old Madison Square Garden in New York (&quot;with its lousy dressing rooms&quot;) on the night Marilyn sang to JFK, May 1962.\" caption=\"Bill Ray\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock\" title=\"Ella Fitzgerald at the old Madison Square Garden in New York on the night Marilyn sang to John F. Kennedy, May 1962.\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/migrated\/2013\/10\/07_ellaindoorway96dpi.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Ella Fitzgerald at the old Madison Square Garden in New York on the night Marilyn sang to John F. Kennedy, May 1962.<\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Bill Ray\/Life Picture Collection\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote id=\"single-block_67ae583f9ee27\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=3876780 desc=\"&lt;strong&gt;Not published in LIFE.&lt;\/strong&gt; Ella Fitzgerald, the Queen of Jazz, 1954.\" caption=\"Eliot Elisofon\/Life Pictures\/Shutterstock\" title=\"Ella Fitzgerald, the Queen of Jazz, 1954.\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/migrated\/2013\/04\/17_01144127.jpg\" alt=\"Ella Fitzgerald, the Queen of Jazz, 1954.\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Ella Fitzgerald, the Queen of Jazz, 1954.<\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Eliot Elisofon\/Life Pictures\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ella Fitzgerald has been described as &#8220;perhaps the quintessential jazz singer.&#8221; This live performance of &#8220;Let&#8217;s Do It (Let&#8217;s Fall In Love)&#8221; is one of the countless examples of Ella Fitzgerald thrilling an audience with her talents. In 1955 LIFE&#8217;s Eliot Elisofon photographed Fitzgerald for a story on the top jazz stars of the day, &#8230; <a title=\"Ella Fitzgerald: The First Lady of Song\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/arts-entertainment\/ella-fitzgerald-the-first-lady-of-song\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":5382618,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,28],"tags":[622,624,923,1099,1771],"class_list":["post-5382616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-people","tag-eliot-elisofon","tag-ella-fitzgerald","tag-jazz","tag-martha-holmes","tag-yale-joel"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ella Fitzgerald: The First Lady of Song - LIFE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/arts-entertainment\/ella-fitzgerald-the-first-lady-of-song\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ella Fitzgerald: The First Lady of Song - LIFE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ella Fitzgerald has been described as &#8220;perhaps the quintessential jazz singer.&#8221; This live performance of &#8220;Let&#8217;s Do It (Let&#8217;s Fall In Love)&#8221; is one of the countless examples of Ella Fitzgerald thrilling an audience with her talents. In 1955 LIFE&#8217;s Eliot Elisofon photographed Fitzgerald for a story on the top jazz stars of the day, ... Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/arts-entertainment\/ella-fitzgerald-the-first-lady-of-song\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"LIFE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-14T15:35:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-14T15:36:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/13203520\/00168201-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1663\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bill Syken\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bill Syken\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/arts-entertainment\/ella-fitzgerald-the-first-lady-of-song\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/arts-entertainment\/ella-fitzgerald-the-first-lady-of-song\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bill Syken\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/#\/schema\/person\/883131cdd6c2606be8d59b3282b8c5a6\"},\"headline\":\"Ella Fitzgerald: The First Lady of Song\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-14T15:35:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-14T15:36:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/arts-entertainment\/ella-fitzgerald-the-first-lady-of-song\/\"},\"wordCount\":245,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/arts-entertainment\/ella-fitzgerald-the-first-lady-of-song\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/13203520\/00168201-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Eliot Elisofon\",\"Ella Fitzgerald\",\"Jazz\",\"Martha Holmes\",\"Yale Joel\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Arts &amp; 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In 1955 LIFE&#8217;s Eliot Elisofon photographed Fitzgerald for a story on the top jazz stars of the day, ... 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