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Overview
The life of the very private and media-shy Ella Fitzgerald has long been shrouded in a mixture of half-truths and fiction. What emerges in Stuart Nicholson's groundbreaking biography is a remarkable story of a poor black girl's determination to realize the American Dream in the face of racial and sexual prejudice. She succeeded, and is now the definition of "jazz singer" to millions, one of the greatest of all jazz musicians. In this fullest account ever of her life, Nicholson draws on fresh research and interviews with Ella's friends and colleagues. Supplemented by Phil Schaap's authoritative discography, Ella Fitzgerald is a rich and revealing portrait of one of the most popular American singers in history.
Today, Ella Fitzgerald defines "jazz singer, " recognized as one of the greatest jazz performers in the world. Nicholson draws on fresh research and interviews with Ella's friends and colleagues to tell the remarkable story of how this poor, black girl realized her American Dream in the face of racial and sexual prejudice. 29 illustrations.
Synopsis
The life of the very private and media-shy Ella Fitzgerald has long been shrouded in a mixture of half-truths and fiction. What emerges in Stuart Nicholson's groundbreaking biography is a remarkable s
Publishers Weekly
For his exhaustive biography, Nicholson ( Jazz: The Modern Resurgence ) draws on written accounts of the legendary singer and on interviews with her childhood friends and musicians who have worked with her; he was unable to arrange to talk with Fitzgerald herself. The result is a thorough, dispassionate account of a career that began in 1935 when, at age 17, the singer first appeared in New York City's Apollo Theater and the Harlem Opera House. Nicholson shows how Fitzgerald was advanced by Milt Gabler at Decca and by promoter Norman Granz; he follows the grueling schedule to which she subjected herself and provides lucid analyses of her style and place in the history of jazz and 20th-century popular music. Although there are accounts here of her continuously unhappy love life, Fitzgerald's personality remains obscure, possibly a reflection of a performer to whom nothing other than singing seems to really matter. Discography by Phil Schaap. Photos not seen by PW. (May)