Ella Fitzgerald, also known as “The First Lady of Song” or “Lady Ella”, was an extraordinary singer highly known in the Harlem Renaissance. Born in Virginia then moving to New York, Ella grew up during the 1920s and got her breakthrough in the early 1930s. She joined an orchestra and produced her first number one single, A-Tisket, A-Tasket. Ella’s contributions to the Harlem Renaissance included not only her songs, but her appearances in movies such as. Ella Fitzgerald is shaped into the woman that she once was through her background, accomplishments, challenges and hardships; she also leaves a legacy that would continue on to influence many generations to come. Born Ella Jane Fitzgerald, Ella was born in Newport News, Virginia on April …show more content…
There Ella sung the songs “Judy”, a Hoagy Carmichael tune, and “The Object of My Affection”. She left the crowd flabbergasted with her performance and won first place in the Apollo Theater’s contest. Among the crowd was bandleader and drummer Chick Webb. Chick Webb soon recruited Ella for his orchestra/band who she recorded her first single “Love and Kisses” in 1935. Later in 1935 Ella produced her first and second number one hit “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” and “I Found My Yellow Basket” respectively. Ella became the leader of Chick’s band, renamed Ella Fitzgerald and Her Orchestra, after his death in 1939. From the 1940s to the early 1990s, Ella will go on to be the first African American woman to receive a Grammy with twelve more to follow, produce over 200 albums and 2,000 songs, receive the NAACP Image Award for Lifetime Achievement, and to receive the Presidential Medal of …show more content…
She would go on to join Chick Webb and his band to produce her first two number one singles. Still fighting toward the future, Ella went through two marriages, produced over 200 albums and won thirteen Grammies. She then struggled with health problems from 1987 until her death on June 15, 1996. Even after her death, Ella left a legacy that inspired the generation after her passing; thus, resulted in a tribute album dedicated to the late singer. Ella lived a life full of twist and turns, but she kept striving for the future. No matter what obstacles fate throws at her, Ella persevered through think and thin to continue
The awards Selena won Not double spaced -1 Selena Quintanilla-Pérez was a Mexican American (Tex-Mex) singer and dancer. Her life was filled with success. Selena was a very successful person, and won many awards. Unfortunately, she was shot and killed on March 31st, 1995, by her fan club manager because of financial problems.
She had become the first African American performer to sign a contract with a major studio, but she wanted to accomplish more than that. She wanted to be a voice for African Americans who were also trying to receive equality. “When I went to the south and met the kind of people who were fighting in such an unglamorous fashion, I mean, fighting to just get someplace to sit and get a sandwich. I felt close to that kind of thing because I had denied it and had been left away from it so long. And I began to feel such pain again.
When she released her first song titled, “Downhearted Blues” her career really took off. She soon became a very successful recording artist and toured extensively. Bessie Smith became an influential figure because of “her magnificent voice, sense of the dramatic, clarity of diction (one never missed a word of what she sang), and incomparable time and phrasing set her apart from the competition and made her appeal as much to jazz lovers as to blues lovers” said Chris Albertson. Her songs were also very meaningful. Bessie’s career continued to flourish as she met many other influential accompanists.
She was named one of the most influential jazz singers ever because even if she was having troubles with her voice she made an amazing performance CBS television broadcast ‘The Sound of Jazz’ and because she was just an all around amazing jazz vocalist. To become famous, she performing in a Harlem Jazz Club when John Hammond, a producer, discovered her and was having her record with Berry Goodman, an up-and-coming clarinetist. Holiday achieved many things in her life. In 2000, she was put in the ‘Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.’ Her single ‘Riffin’ the Scotch’ was in the ‘top 10 hits’ in 1934.
She became the best-selling blues artist of her time, making almost 160 recordings including some of her songs like “Backwater Blues” and “Tain’t Nobody’s Biz-ness If I Do”. Once she became famous, she began touring everywhere and eventually bought a custom railroad car for her traveling troupe. Traveling on the road, Bessie dealt with corrupt promotors and bad atmospheres. With Ma Rainey as the mentor she also influenced
Josephine Baker was a dancer and singer who became wildly popular in france during the 1920’s. She had also devoted much of her life to fighting racism. She was a very influential lady in most of our lives. Josephine was born June 3,1906. Her childhood reflected on what she wanted to become in the future such as a singer, dancer, and civil rights activist.
(Open Ears: Eva Jessye and the Harlem Renaissance, para 1) Eva was a talented musician, at a young age, she was a singer, choir director, composer, actor, teacher, and poet. “Eva lead a choir that was one of the top gospel, folk, and spiritual groups of the time… Known as ‘Original Dixie Jubilee Singers’ but they later changed the name to “Eva Jessye Choir”. (Open Ears: Eva Jessye and the Harlem Renaissance, para 2) To have your choir as a black woman during the early 1920s was a feat that should not be dismissed.
Selena’s life was taken in March 31, 1995. She passed away in Corpus Christi, Texas (“SelenaForever”). Selena’s killed had a gloomy past, she was accused of stealing 9,000+ in 1984 and didn’t pay her student loans (“Selena Quintanilla Biography”). Yolanda Saldivar was Selena’s killer. Yolanda was the number one fan of Selena.
Loretta Lynn, affectionately known as the Coal Miner’s Daughter has had an astonishing career spanning well towards its sixth decade. The rags to riches story has brought us one of country music’s biggest legends, most beloved artist, and over 50 years of solid country music. Recently Lynn was honored when she received the Lifetime Achievement Award For Songwriting at the Americana Music Awards on September 17, 2014 held at the Ryman Auditorium, once home to the iconic Grand Ole Opry. 54 years to the day Lynn first walked onto the stage and made her debut playing her first hit single, Honky Tonk Girl.
There are many wonderful people in history, one of those people are Jacqueline Cochran. She had a few jobs but she felt that they were not the ones that she desired the most. She was first to do something, and what she did was something that is inspiring to us. Jacqueline Cochran was a person. She was born in West Florida circa in 1906.
She was a poet, these are some of her major accomplishments. Phillis wrote one of her magnificent poems at age 13. She was one of the first black women to write and publish a book of poetry. Her poems on “ Various Objects” is a landmark
During the 1920s, there was a period that was called the Harlem Renaissance, during which African Americans got the opportunity to be creative and express themselves through music and art. Langston Hughes and Louis Armstrong were a few of the famous people who came from this period in the 1920s. Another famous person that came out of the Harlem Renaissance was Zora Neale Hurston, a multi-talented African American woman who wrote stories that described the life and struggles of the 1920s through the stories she wrote. Hurston was an American writer, who was able to connect to the hearts of most people from all kinds of different races and religions during the period. Even today, her readers still feel the connection Hurston was trying to make
She soon escaped from the school and found herself living alone and without any money during the middle of the Great Depression. It is believed that Ella survived by singing on the streets, a far cry from the top venues she would soon be performing
The topic of Social Justice will be examined as well as black consciousness, religion and police brutality. In this paper, we will look at these specific topics in level of importance as well as examine the lyrics from Strange fruit and Mississippi goddamn by Nina Simone as well as Alright and the Blacker the Berry from Kendrick Lamar. These two artists have truly embodied the meaning of black resistance from the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Lives Matter Movement. Also, their music has great symbolism and helped move the culture forward in the fight to end Social Injustice. The definition of black resistance is going against the establishment that is been provided for us and creating new rules.
Billie Holiday is one of the most influential jazz singers of her time. Her attitude, determination and most of all her music inspired artists throughout time and inspired major social change. Throughout her lifetime she explored the world of jazz, her identity, and how far the limits of her talent would take her. She exchanged her poor life, full of drugs and scandal for a life of performing the arts and showcasing her talents and abilities. Her incredible determination led her to do what she loved regardless of what anyone thought , which led to her inciting major social exchange; moving black suffering into white consciousness.