In music, the term note has two primary meanings: #A sign used in musical notation to represent the relative duration and pitch of a sound; #A pitched sound itself.

Notes are the "atoms" of much Western music: discretizations of musical phenomena that facilitate performance, comprehension, and analysis.

The term "note" can be used in both generic and specific senses: one might say either "the piece 'Happy Birthday to You' begins with two notes having the same pitch," or "the piece begins with two repetitions of the same note." In the former case, one uses "note" to refer to a specific musical event; in the latter, one uses the term to refer to a class of events sharing the same pitch.

Note name

Two notes with fundamental frequencies in a ratio of any power of two (e.g. half, twice, or four times) are perceived as very similar. Because of that, all notes with these kinds of relations can be grouped under the same pitch class. In traditional music theory pitch classes are represented by the first seven letters of the Latin alphabet (A, B, C, D, E, F and G) (some countries use other names as in the table below). The eighth note, or octave is given the same name as the first, but has double its frequency. The name octave is also used to indicate the span of notes having a frequency ratio of two. To differentiate two notes that have the same pitch class but fall into different octaves, the system of scientific pitch notation combines a letter name with an Arabic numeral designating a specific octave. For example, the now-standard tuning pitch for most Western music, 440 Hz, is named a′ or A4. There are two formal ways to define each note and octave, the Helmholtz system and the Scientific pitch notation.

Accidentals

Letter names are modified by the accidentals. A sharp raises a note by a semitone or half-step, and a flat lowers it by the same amount. In modern tuning a half step has a frequency ratio of $\backslash sqrt[12]\{2\}$, approximately 1.059. The accidentals are written after the note name: so, for example, F represents F-sharp, B is B-flat.

Additional accidentals are the double-sharp , raising the frequency by two semitones, and double-flat , lowering it by that amount.

In musical notation, accidentals are placed before the note symbols. Systematic alterations to the seven lettered pitches in the scale can be indicated by placing the symbols in the key signature, which then apply implicitly to all occurrences of corresponding notes. Explicitly noted accidentals can be used to override this effect for the remainder of a bar. A special accidental, the natural symbol , is used to indicate an unmodified pitch. Effects of key signature and local accidentals do not cumulate. If the key signature indicates G-sharp, a local flat before a G makes it G-flat (not G natural), though often this type of rare accidental is expressed as a natural, followed by a flat () to make this clear. Likewise (and more commonly), a double sharp sign on a key signature with a single sharp indicates only a double sharp, not a triple sharp.

Assuming enharmonicity, many accidentals will create equivalences between pitches that are written differently. For instance, raising the note B to B is equal to the note C. Assuming all such equivalences, the complete chromatic scale adds five additional pitch classes to the original seven lettered notes for a total of 12 (the 13th note completing the octave), each separated by a half-step.

Notes that belong to the diatonic scale relevant in the context are sometimes called ''diatonic notes''; notes that do not meet that criterion are then sometimes called ''chromatic notes''.

Another style of notation, rarely used in English, uses the suffix "is" to indicate a sharp and "es" (only "s" after A and E) for a flat, e.g. Fis for F, Ges for G, Es for E. This system first arose in Germany and is used in almost all European countries whose main language is not English or a Romance language.

In most countries using this system, the letter H is used to represent what is B natural in English, the letter B represents the B, and Heses represents the B (not Bes, which would also have fit into the system). Belgium and the Netherlands use the same suffixes, but applied throughout to the notes A to G, so that B is Bes. Denmark also uses H, but uses bes instead of heses for B.

This is a complete chart of a chromatic scale built on the note C4, or "middle C":

bgcolor="black"> bgcolor="white" bgcolor="black" C sharp D flat C D Cis Des Cis Des Ni diesis (or diez) Pa hyphesis Do diesis Re bemolle Ut ハ Ha Sa 262 60

style="width: 12em"

Style

Type

prime

|

second

third

fourth

fifth

sixth

seventh

English name

Natural

bgcolor="white"

C

|

D

bgcolor="white"

E

F||bgcolor="black" |

bgcolor="white"

G

bgcolor="white"

A

||bgcolor="white" |B

Sharp

|

D sharp

F sharp

G sharp

A sharp

Flat

|

E flat

G flat

A flat

B flat

Symbol

Sharp

|

D

F

G

A

Flat

|

E

G

A

B

Northern European name

Natural

C

|

D

E

F

G

A

H

Sharp

|

Dis

Fis

Gis

Ais

Flat

|

Es

Ges

As

B

Dutch name (sometimes used in Scandinavia after 1990s)

Natural

C

|

D

E

F

G

A

B

Sharp

|

Dis

Fis

Gis

Ais

Flat

|

Es

Ges

As

Bes

Byzantine

Natural

Ni

|

Pa

Vu

Ga

Di

Ke

Zo-

Sharp

|

Pa diesis

Ga diesis

Di diesis

Ke diesis

Flat

|

Vu hyphesis

Di hyphesis

Ke hyphesis

Zo hyphesis

Latin America, Italian, French, Southern & Eastern European

Natural

Do

|

Re

Mi

Fa

Sol

La

Si

Sharp

|

Re diesis

Fa diesis

Sol diesis

La diesis

Flat

|

Mi bemolle

Sol bemolle

La bemolle

Si bemolle

Variant names

|

-

-

-

So

-

Ti

Japanese

|||ニ Ni ||||ホ Ho||

ヘ He

|トTo|||| イ I ||||ロ Ro

Indian style

|

Re Komal

Re

Ga Komal

Ga

Ma

Ma Teevra

Pa

Dha Komal

Dha

Ni Komal

Ni

Approx. Frequency [Hz]

|

277

294

311

330

349

370

392

415

440

466

494

MIDI note number

|

61

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

69

70

71

Note designation in accordance with octave name

The table of each octave and the frequencies for every note of pitch class A is shown below. The traditional (Helmholtz) system centers on the great octave (with capital letters) and small octave (with lower case letters). Lower octaves are named "contra" (with primes before), higher ones "lined" (with primes after). Another system (scientific) suffixes a number (starting with 0, or sometimes -1). In this system A4 is nowadays standardised to 440 Hz, lying in the octave containing notes from C4 (middle C) to B4. The lowest note on most pianos is A0, the highest C8. The MIDI system for electronic musical instruments and computers uses a straight count starting with note 0 for C-1 at 8.1758 Hz up to note 127 for G9 at 12,544 Hz.

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: center" ! colspan="4" | Octave naming systems || rowspan="2" |frequencyof A (Hz) |- ! traditional || shorthand || numbered || MIDI nr |- | style="text-align: left" | subsubcontra | C͵͵͵ – B͵͵͵ || C-1 – B-1 || 0 – 11 ||13.75 |- | style="text-align: left" | sub-contra | C͵͵ – B͵͵ || C0 – B0 || 12 – 23 ||27.5 |- | style="text-align: left" | contra | C͵ – B͵ || C1 – B1 || 24 – 35 || 55 |- | style="text-align: left" | great | C – B || C2 – B2 || 36 – 47 || 110 |- | style="text-align: left" | small | c – b || C3 – B3 || 48 – 59 || 220 |- | style="text-align: left" | one-lined | c′ – b′ || C4 – B4 || 60 – 71 || 440 |- | style="text-align: left" | two-lined | c′′ – b′′ || C5 – B5 || 72 – 83 || 880 |- | style="text-align: left" | three-lined | c′′′ – b′′′ || C6 – B6 || 84 – 95 || 1760 |- | style="text-align: left" | four-lined | c′′′′ – b′′′′ || C7 – B7 || 96 – 107 || 3520 |- | style="text-align: left" | five-lined | c′′′′′ – b′′′′′ || C8 – B8 || 108 – 119 || 7040 |- | style="text-align: left" | six-lined | c′′′′′′ – b′′′′′′ || C9 – B9 || 120 – 127up to G9 ||14080 |}

Written notes

A written note can also have a note value, a code that determines the note's relative duration. In order of halving duration, we have: double note (breve); whole note (semibreve); half note (minim); quarter note (crotchet); eighth note (quaver); sixteenth note (semiquaver). Smaller still are the thirty-second note (demisemiquaver), sixty-fourth note (hemidemisemiquaver), and hundred twenty-eighth note (semihemidemisemiquaver).

When notes are written out in a score, each note is assigned a specific vertical position on a staff position (a line or a space) on the staff, as determined by the clef. Each line or space is assigned a note name. These names are memorized by musicians and allow them to know at a glance the proper pitch to play on their instruments for each note-head marked on the page.

The staff above shows the notes C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C and then in reverse order, with no key signature or accidentals.

Note frequency (hertz)

In all technicality, ''music'' can be composed of notes at any arbitrary frequency. Since the physical causes of music are vibrations of mechanical systems, they are often measured in hertz (Hz), with 1 Hz = 1 complete vibration per second. For historical and other reasons, especially in Western music, only twelve notes of fixed frequencies are used. These fixed frequencies are mathematically related to each other, and are defined around the central note, ''A4''. The current "standard pitch" or modern "concert pitch" for this note is 440 Hz, although this varies in actual practice (see History of pitch standards).

The note-naming convention specifies a letter, any accidentals (sharps/flats), and an octave number. Any note is an integer of half-steps away from middle A (A4). Let this distance be denoted ''n''. If the note is above A4, then ''n'' is positive; if it is below A4, then ''n'' is negative. The frequency of the note (''f'') (assuming equal temperament) is then: :$f\; =\; 2^\{n/12\}\; \backslash times\; 440\; \backslash ,\backslash mbox\; \{Hz\}\backslash ,$

For example, one can find the frequency of C5, the first C above A4. There are 3 half-steps between A4 and C5 (A4 → A4 → B4 → C5), and the note is above A4, so ''n'' = +3. The note's frequency is:

:$f\; =\; 2^\{3/12\}\; \backslash times\; 440\; \backslash ,\backslash mbox\; \{Hz\}\; \backslash approx\; 523.2\; \backslash ,\backslash mbox\; \{Hz\}$

To find the frequency of a note below A4, the value of ''n'' is negative. For example, the F below A4 is F4. There are 4 half-steps (A4 → A4 → G4 → G4 → F4), and the note is below A4, so ''n'' = −4. The note's frequency is:

:$f\; =\; 2^\{-4/12\}\; \backslash times\; 440\; \backslash ,\backslash mbox\; \{Hz\}\; \backslash approx\; 349.2\; \backslash ,\backslash mbox\; \{Hz\}$

Finally, it can be seen from this formula that octaves automatically yield factors of two times the original frequency, since ''n'' is therefore a multiple of 12 (12''k'', where ''k'' is the number of octaves up or down), and so the formula reduces to:

:$f\; =\; 2^\{12k/12\}\; \backslash times\; 440\; \backslash ,\backslash mbox\; \{Hz\}\; =\; 2^k\; \backslash times\; 440\; \backslash ,\backslash mbox\; \{Hz\}$

yielding a factor of 2. In fact, this is the means by which this formula is derived, combined with the notion of equally-spaced intervals.

The distance of an equally tempered semitone is divided into 100 cents. So 1200 cents are equal to one octave — a frequency ratio of 2:1. This means that a cent is precisely equal to the 1200th root of 2, which is approximately 1.000578.

For use with the MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) standard, a frequency mapping is defined by:

:$p\; =\; 69\; +\; 12\; \backslash times\; log\_2\{f\; \backslash over\; 440\; \backslash ,\backslash mbox\; \{Hz\}\}$

For notes in an A440 equal temperament, this formula delivers the standard MIDI note number. Any other frequencies fill the space between the whole numbers evenly. This allows MIDI instruments to be tuned very accurately in any microtuning scale, including non-western traditional tunings.

History of note names

Music notation systems have used letters of the alphabet for centuries. The 6th century philosopher Boethius is known to have used the first fifteen letters of the alphabet to signify the notes of the two-octave range that was in use at the time. Though it is not known whether this was his devising or common usage at the time, this is nonetheless called Boethian notation.

Following this, the system of repeating letters A-G in each octave was introduced, these being written as minuscules for the second octave (a-g) and double minuscules for the third (aa-gg). When the compass of used notes was extended down by one note, to a G, it was given the Greek G (Γ), gamma. (It is from this that the French word for scale, ''gamme'' is derived, and the English word gamut, from "Gamma-Ut", the lowest note in Medieval music notation.)

The remaining five notes of the chromatic scale (the black keys on a piano keyboard) were added gradually; the first being B, which was flattened in certain modes to avoid the dissonant tritone interval. This change was not always shown in notation, but when written, B (B-flat) was written as a Latin, round "b", and B (B-natural) a Gothic or "hard-edged" b. These evolved into the modern flat and natural symbols respectively. The sharp symbol arose from a barred b, called the "cancelled b".

In parts of Europe, including Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Norway, Finland, and Russia, the natural symbol transformed into the letter H (possibly for ''hart'', German for ''hard''): in German music notation, H is B (B-natural) and B is B (B-flat). Occasionally, music written in German for international use will use H for B-natural and B^b for B-flat (with a modern-script lowercase b instead of a flat sign). Since a Bes or B in Northern Europe (i.e. a B elsewhere) is both rare and unorthodox (more likely to be expressed as Heses), it is generally clear what this notation means.

In Italian, Portuguese, Greek, French, Russian, Flemish, Romanian, Spanish, Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, Bulgarian and Turkish notation the notes of scales are given in terms of Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Si rather than C-D-E-F-G-A-B. These names follow the original names reputedly given by Guido d'Arezzo, who had taken them from the first syllables of the first six musical phrases of a Gregorian Chant melody ''Ut queant laxis'', which began on the appropriate scale degrees. These became the basis of the solfege system. "Do" later replaced the original "Ut" for ease of singing (most likely from the beginning of ''Dominus'', Lord), though "Ut" is still used in some places. "Si" or "Ti" was added as the seventh degree (from ''Sancte Johannes'', St. John, to whom the hymn is dedicated). The use of 'Si' versus 'Ti' varies regionally.

In a newly developed system, primarily in use in the United States, notes of scales become independent to the music notation. In this system the natural symbols C-D-E-F-G-A-B refer to the absolute notes, while the names Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti are relativized and show only the relationship between pitches, where Do is the name of the base pitch of the scale, Re is the name of the second pitch, etc. The idea of so called movable-do, originally suggested by John Curwen in the 19th century, was fully developed and involved into a whole educational system by Zoltán Kodály in the middle of the 20th century, which system is known as the Kodály Method or Kodály Concept.

See also

Mathematics of musical scales

Diatonic and chromatic

Ghost note

Grace note

Money note

Musical temperament

Note value

Pensato

Piano key frequencies

Solfege

Universal key

References

Bibliography

Nattiez, Jean-Jacques (1990). ''Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music'' (''Musicologie générale et sémiologue'', 1987). Translated by Carolyn Abbate (1990). ISBN 0-691-02714-5.

External links

Converter: Frequencies to note name, +/- cents

Note names, keyboard positions, frequencies and MIDI numbers

Music notation systems − Frequencies of equal temperament tuning - The English and American system versus the German system

Frequencies of musical notes

Category:Musical notation

be-x-old:Нота bs:Nota br:Notenn sonerezh bg:Ноти ca:Nota cs:Nota da:Node de:Note (Musik) et:Noot (muusika) el:Νότα es:Nota (sonido) eo:Muziknoto eu:Musika nota fa:نت fr:Note de musique gl:Nota musical ko:음표 hr:Note io:Noto is:Nóta (tónlist) it:Nota musicale he:תו (מוזיקה) la:Tonus lt:Nata hu:Zenei hang nah:Cuīcatlahtōl nl:Muzieknoot ja:音符 no:Note nn:Note pl:Nuta pt:Nota ro:Notă muzicală ru:Нотная запись scn:Nota simple:Note (music) sk:Nota sl:Nota sr:Note fi:Nuotti th:โน้ตดนตรี tr:Nota (müzik) uk:Ноти zh-yue:音符 bat-smg:Dainažīmė zh:音符

Coordinates	40°26′30″N80°00′00″N
name	Daryle Singletary
background	solo_singer
birth name	Daryle Bruce Singletary
born	March 10, 1971
origin	Cairo, Georgia, USA
instrument	Vocals Guitar
genre	Country
occupation	Singer
years active	1994-present
associated acts	Randy TravisDavid Malloy
label	Giant AudiumShanachieE1 Music }}

Daryle Bruce Singletary (born March 10, 1971) is an American country music singer. Between 1995 and 1998, he recorded for Giant Records, for which he released three studio albums: ''Daryle Singletary'' in 1995, ''All Because of You'' in 1996 and ''Ain't It the Truth'' in 1998. In the same timespan, Singletary entered the top 40 of the Hot Country Songs charts five times, reaching number two with "I Let Her Lie" and "Amen Kind of Love", and number four with "Too Much Fun".

In 2000, Singletary switched to Audium Entertainment (a division of Koch Entertainment), where he released the albums ''Now and Again'' (2000) and ''That's Why I Sing This Way'' (2002), both of which were largely composed of cover songs. A third album of covers, 2007's ''Straight from the Heart'', was issued on the independent Shanachie Records label. He returned to Koch (now renamed E1 Music) in 2010, to release ''Rockin' in the Country''.

Early life

Daryle Singletary was born March 10, 1971 in Cairo, Georgia. He is the son of a postal worker and his mom a hair dresser . At an early age, he sang gospel music with his cousins and brother. Later on, in high school, he began taking vocal classes as well. By the early 1990s, he had moved to Nashville, Tennessee in pursuit of a record deal.

In Nashville, he found work singing during open-mic nights at various venues, before finding work as a demo singer. One of the demos that Singletary sang was a song entitled "An Old Pair of Shoes", which Randy Travis eventually recorded. Travis recommended Singletary to his management team, who helped him sign to a recording contract with Giant Records.

1995-1996: ''Self-titled album''

Singletary's self-titled debut album was released in 1995. The lead-off single, "I'm Living Up to Her Low Expectations", spent one week in the Top 40 on the ''Billboard'' country charts, peaking at #39. It was followed by his biggest hit, the #2 "I Let Her Lie". This album also produced the #4 "Too Much Fun" and finally "Working It Out" at #50. Despite the two Top Five hits it produced, the album sold poorly and reached #44 on Top Country Albums. The album was produced by David Malloy, James Stroud and Randy Travis.

1996-1997: ''All Because of You''

A second album for Giant, ''All Because of You'', was released in 1996. Although its lead-off single "Amen Kind of Love" became his second #2 hit that year, the album's other two tracks — "The Used to Be's" and "Even the Wind" — both fell short of Top 40.

1998-1999: ''Ain't It the Truth''

''Ain't It the Truth'', his third and final album for Giant, produced a minor hit in "The Note", which peaked at #28 on the country charts and #90 on the Billboard Hot 100. Despite this song's minor crossover success, however, this album also saw its second and third singles miss the Top 40, and Singletary was dropped from Giant's roster.

2000-2001: ''Now and Again''

In 2000, Singletary signed to Audium/Koch Entertainment to release his fourth album, 2000's ''Now and Again''. This album's lead-off single was a cover of Savage Garden's 1999 pop single "I Knew I Loved You". Following it were "I've Thought of Everything" at #70, and the album's title track, which failed to chart.

2002-2003: ''That's Why I Sing This Way''

His second album for Audium/Koch, ''That's Why I Sing This Way'', was mostly a cover album save for the title track. Both "That's Why I Sing This Way" and a cover of Conway Twitty's "I'd Love to Lay You Down" were released from this album, respectively reaching #47 and #43.

2003-present: Later years

After Audium/Koch closed its country division, Singletary signed to Shanachie Records. His first project for the label was a second album, 2007's ''Straight from the Heart'', which was also largely composed of cover songs. Its singles, "I Still Sing This Way" and "Jesus & Bartenders", both failed to chart.

In 2009, Singletary returned to Koch under the label's new name of E1 Music. He released his next single, "Love You With the Lights On" in February. The single was the lead-off single to a new album, ''Rockin' in the Country'', released in June 2009.

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions
		! width="45"	! width="45"	! width="45"
! scope="row"		* Release date: May 23, 1995	Giant Records (Warner Bros. subsidiary label)>Giant Nashville	* Formats:		* Release date: October 8, 1996	* Label: Giant Nashville	* Formats: CD, cassette	60	—	—
''[[Ain't It the Truth">Compact disc	44	—	27
! scope="row"		* Release date: October 8, 1996	* Label: Giant Nashville	* Formats: CD, cassette	60	—	—
''[[Ain't It the Truth''		* Release date: February 24, 1998	* Label: Giant Nashville	* Formats: CD, cassette	18	160	7
! scope="row"		* Release date: June 11, 2000	* Label: Audium/Koch Records	* Formats: CD, cassette	—	—	—
''That's Why I Sing This Way''		* Release date: April 23, 2002	* Label: Audium/Koch Records	* Formats: CD	65	—	—
! scope="row"		* Release date: February 27, 2007	* Label: Shanachie Records	* Formats: CD, music download	74	—	—
''Rockin' in the Country''		* Release date: June 9, 2009	* Label: E1 Music	* Formats: CD, music download	—	—	—

1990s singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions			Album
		! width="45"	! width="45"	! width="45"
	"I'm Living Up to Her Low Expectations"	39	—	35
"I Let Her Lie"	2	—	2
"Too Much Fun"	4	—	10
	"Workin' It Out"	50	—	56
"Amen Kind of Love"	2	—	2
	"The Used to Be's"	48	—	85
"Even the Wind"	68	—	—
	"The Note"	28	90	70
"That's Where You're Wrong"	49	—	—
"My Baby's Lovin'"	44	—	88

2000s singles

Year	Single	Peak positions	Album
		! width="60"
	"I Knew I Loved You"	55
"I've Thought of Everything"	70
2001	"Now and Again"	—
	"That's Why I Sing This Way"	47
"I'd Love to Lay You Down"	43
	"I Still Sing This Way"	—
"Jesus & Bartenders"	—
2009	"Love You With the Lights On"	—

Music videos

! Year	Video	! Director
	"I'm Living Up to Her Low Expectations"	Planet Pictures/Scene Three
"I Let Her Lie"
"Too Much Fun"
	"Workin' It Out"
"Amen Kind of Love"
	"The Used to Be's"	Marc Ball
"The Note"	Jim Hershleder
2000	"I Knew I Loved You"

References

External links

DaryleSingletary.net

Category:1971 births Category:American country singers Category:American male singers Category:Musicians from Georgia (U.S. state) Category:Living people Category:E1 Music artists Category:Giant Records (Warner) artists Category:People from Grady County, Georgia

Coordinates	40°26′30″N80°00′00″N
name	Ella Fitzgerald
background	solo_singer
birth name	Ella Jane Fitzgerald
alias	First Lady of Song, Lady Ella
born	April 25, 1917Newport News, Virginia, U.S.
Origin	Yonkers, New York
died	June 15, 1996Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
genre	Swing, traditional pop, vocal jazz
instrument	PianoVocals
occupation	Vocalist
years active	1934–1993
label	Capitol, Decca, Pablo, Reprise, Verve
website	EllaFitzgerald.com }}

Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 – June 15, 1996), also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist. With a vocal range spanning three octaves (Db3 to Db6), she was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing and intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing.

She is considered to be a notable interpreter of the Great American Songbook. Over the course of her 59 year recording career, she was the winner of 13 Grammy Awards and was awarded the National Medal of Arts by Ronald Reagan and the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George H. W. Bush.

Early life

Fitzgerald was born in Newport News, Virginia, the child of a common-law marriage between William and Temperance "Tempie" Fitzgerald. The pair separated soon after her birth and she and her mother went to Yonkers, N.Y, where they eventually moved in with Tempie's longtime boyfriend Joseph Da Silva. Fitzgerald's half-sister, Frances Da Silva, was born in 1923.

In her youth Fitzgerald wanted to be a dancer, although she loved listening to jazz recordings by Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby and The Boswell Sisters. She idolized the lead singer Connee Boswell, later saying, "My mother brought home one of her records, and I fell in love with it....I tried so hard to sound just like her."

In 1932, her mother died from a heart attack. Following this trauma, Fitzgerald's grades dropped dramatically and she frequently skipped school. Abused by her stepfather, she was first taken in by an aunt and at one point worked as a lookout at a bordello and also with a Mafia-affiliated numbers runner. When the authorities caught up with her, she was first placed in the Colored Orphan Asylum in Riverdale, the Bronx. However, when the orphanage proved too crowded she was moved to the New York Training School for Girls in Hudson, New York, a state reformatory. Eventually she escaped and for a time was homeless.

She made her singing debut at 17 on November 21, 1934 at the Apollo Theater. in Harlem, New York. She pulled in a weekly audience at the Apollo and won the opportunity to compete in one of the earliest of its famous "Amateur Nights". She had originally intended to go on stage and dance but, intimidated by the Edwards Sisters, a local dance duo, she opted to sing instead in the style of Connee Boswell. She sang Boswell's "Judy" and "The Object of My Affection," a song recorded by the Boswell Sisters, and won the first prize of US$25.00.

Later life

Fitzgerald married at least twice, and there is evidence that she may have married a third time. In 1941 she married Benny Kornegay, a convicted drug dealer and local dockworker. The marriage was annulled after two years.

Her second marriage, in December 1947, was to the famous bass player Ray Brown, whom she had met while on tour with Dizzy Gillespie's band a year earlier. Together they adopted a child born to Fitzgerald's half-sister, Frances, whom they christened Ray Brown, Jr. With Fitzgerald and Brown often busy touring and recording, the child was largely raised by her aunt, Virginia. Fitzgerald and Brown divorced in 1953, bowing to the various career pressures both were experiencing at the time, though they would continue to perform together.

In July 1957, Reuters reported that Fitzgerald had secretly married Thor Einar Larsen, a young Norwegian, in Oslo. She had even gone as far as furnishing an apartment in Oslo, but the affair was quickly forgotten when Larsen was sentenced to five months hard labor in Sweden for stealing money from a young woman to whom he had previously been engaged.

Fitzgerald was also notoriously shy. Trumpet player Mario Bauza, who played behind Fitzgerald in her early years with Chick Webb, remembered that "she didn’t hang out much. When she got into the band, she was dedicated to her music….She was a lonely girl around New York, just kept herself to herself, for the gig." When, later in her career, the Society of Singers named an award after her, Fitzgerald explained, "I don't want to say the wrong thing, which I always do. I think I do better when I sing."

Already visually impaired by the effects of diabetes, Fitzgerald had both her legs amputated in 1993. In 1996 she died of the disease in Beverly Hills, California at the age of 79. She is buried in the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California. The career history and archival material from Ella's long career are housed in the Archives Center at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History while her personal music arrangements are at The Library of Congress. Her extensive cookbook collection was donated to the Schlesinger Library at Harvard University while her published sheet music collection is at the Schoenberg Library at UCLA.

Career

Big-band singing

In January 1935, Fitzgerald won the chance to perform for a week with the Tiny Bradshaw band at the Harlem Opera House. She met drummer and bandleader Chick Webb here. Webb had already hired singer Charlie Linton to work with the band and was, ''The New York Times'' later wrote, "reluctant to sign her....because she was gawky and unkempt, a ''diamond in the rough.''" Webb offered her the opportunity to test with his band when they played a dance at Yale University.

She began singing regularly with Webb's Orchestra through 1935 at Harlem's Savoy Ballroom. Fitzgerald recorded several hit songs with them, including "Love and Kisses" and "(If You Can't Sing It) You'll Have to Swing It (Mr. Paganini)". But it was her 1938 version of the nursery rhyme, "A-Tisket, A-Tasket", a song she co-wrote, that brought her wide public acclaim.

Chick Webb died on June 16, 1939, and his band was renamed "Ella Fitzgerald and her Famous Orchestra" with Ella taking on the role of bandleader. Fitzgerald recorded nearly 150 sides during her time with the orchestra, most of which, like "A-Tisket, A-Tasket," were "novelties and disposable pop fluff."

The Decca years

In 1942, Fitzgerald left the band to begin a solo career. Now signed to the Decca label, she had several popular hits while recording with such artists as the Ink Spots, Louis Jordan, and the Delta Rhythm Boys.

With Decca's Milt Gabler as her manager, she began working regularly for the jazz impresario Norman Granz, and appeared regularly in his Jazz at the Philharmonic (JATP) concerts. Fitzgerald's relationship with Granz was further cemented when he became her manager, although it would be nearly a decade before he could record her on one of his many record labels.

With the demise of the Swing era and the decline of the great touring big bands, a major change in jazz music occurred. The advent of bebop led to new developments in Fitzgerald's vocal style, influenced by her work with Dizzy Gillespie's big band. It was in this period that Fitzgerald started including scat singing as a major part of her performance repertoire. While singing with Gillespie, Fitzgerald recalled, "I just tried to do [with my voice] what I heard the horns in the band doing."

Her 1945 scat recording of Flying Home (arranged by Vic Schoen) would later be described by ''The New York Times'' as "one of the most influential vocal jazz records of the decade....Where other singers, most notably Louis Armstrong, had tried similar improvisation, no one before Miss Fitzgerald employed the technique with such dazzling inventiveness." Her bebop recording of "Oh, Lady be Good!" (1947) was similarly popular and increased her reputation as one of the leading jazz vocalists.

Perhaps responding to criticism and under pressure from Granz, who felt that Fitzgerald was given unsuitable material to record during this period, her last years on the Decca label saw Fitzgerald recording a series of duets with pianist Ellis Larkins, released in 1950 as ''Ella Sings Gershwin''.

Move to Verve and mainstream success

Fitzgerald was still performing at Granz's JATP concerts by 1955. Fitzgerald left Decca and Granz, now her manager, created Verve Records around her.

Fitzgerald later described the period as strategically crucial, saying, "I had gotten to the point where I was only singing be-bop. I thought be-bop was 'it,' and that all I had to do was go some place and sing bop. But it finally got to the point where I had no place to sing. I realized then that there was more to music than bop. Norman....felt that I should do other things, so he produced ''The Cole Porter Songbook'' with me. It was a turning point in my life."

''Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook'', released in 1956, was the first of eight multi-album Songbook sets Fitzgerald would record for Verve at irregular intervals from 1956 to 1964. The composers and lyricists spotlighted on each set, taken together, represent the greatest part of the cultural canon known as the ''Great American Songbook''. Fitzgerald's song selections ranged from standards to rarities and represented an attempt by Fitzgerald to cross over into a non-jazz audience. ''Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook'' was the only Songbook on which the composer she interpreted played with her. Duke Ellington and his longtime collaborator Billy Strayhorn both appeared on exactly half the set's 38 tracks and wrote two new pieces of music for the album: "The E and D Blues" and a four-movement musical portrait of Fitzgerald (the only Songbook track on which Fitzgerald does not sing).

The Songbook series ended up becoming the singer's most critically acclaimed and commercially successful work, and probably her most significant offering to American culture. ''The New York Times'' wrote in 1996, "These albums were among the first pop records to devote such serious attention to individual songwriters, and they were instrumental in establishing the pop album as a vehicle for serious musical exploration."

A few days after Fitzgerald's death, ''New York Times'' columnist Frank Rich wrote that in the Songbook series Fitzgerald "performed a cultural transaction as extraordinary as Elvis's contemporaneous integration of white and African-American soul. Here was a black woman popularizing urban songs often written by immigrant Jews to a national audience of predominantly white Christians." Frank Sinatra was moved out of respect for Fitzgerald to block Capitol Records from re-releasing his own recordings in a similar, single composer vein.

Ella Fitzgerald also recorded albums exclusively devoted to the songs of Porter and Gershwin in 1972 and 1983; the albums being, respectively, ''Ella Loves Cole'' and ''Nice Work If You Can Get It''. A later collection devoted to a single composer was released during her time with Pablo Records, ''Ella Abraça Jobim'', featuring the songs of Antonio Carlos Jobim.

While recording the Songbooks and the occasional studio album, Fitzgerald toured 40 to 45 weeks per year in the United States and internationally, under the tutelage of Norman Granz. Granz helped solidify her position as one of the leading live jazz performers.

In the mid-1950s, Fitzgerald became the first African-American to perform at the Mocambo, after Marilyn Monroe had lobbied the owner for the booking. The booking was instrumental in Fitzgerald's career. The incident was turned into a play by Bonnie Greer in 2005.

There are several live albums on Verve that are highly regarded by critics. ''Ella at the Opera House'' shows a typical JATP set from Fitzgerald. ''Ella in Rome'' and ''Twelve Nights In Hollywood'' display her vocal jazz canon. ''Ella in Berlin'' is still one of her best selling albums; it includes a Grammy-winning performance of "Mack the Knife" in which she forgets the lyrics, but improvises magnificently to compensate.

Voice

As Will Friedwald noted

Unlike any other singer you could name, Fitzgerald has the most amazing asset in the very sound of her voice: it's easily one of the most beautiful and sonically perfect sounds known to man. Even if she couldn't do anything with it, the instrument that Fitzgerald starts with is dulcet and pure and breathtakingly beautiful. As Henry Pleasants has observed, she has a wider range than most opera singers, and many of the latter, including Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, are among her biggest fans. And the intonation that goes with the voice is, to put it conservatively, God-like. Fitzgerald simply exists in tune, and she hits every note that there is without the slightest trace of effort. Other singers tend to sound like they're trying to reach up to a note - Fitzgerald always sounds like she's already there. If anything, she's descending from her heavenly perch and swooping down to whatever pitch she wants.

Henry Pleasants, an American classical-music critic, wrote this about her:

She has a lovely voice, one of the warmest and most radiant in its natural range that I have heard in a lifetime of listening to singers in every category. She has an impeccable and ultimately sophisticated rhythmic sense, and flawless intonation. Her harmonic sensibility is extraordinary. She is endlessly inventive.. . it is not so much what she does, or even the way she does it, it's what she does not do. What she does not do, putting it simply as possible, is anything wrong. There is simply nothing in performance to which one would take exception.. . Everything seems to be just right. One would not want it any other way. Nor can one, for a moment imagine it any other way.

Ella Fitzgerald had an extraordinary vocal range. A mezzo-soprano (who sang much lower than most classical contraltos), she had a range of “2 octaves and a sixth from a low D or D flat to a high B flat and possibly higher”.

In 1993, Fitzgerald established the Charitable Foundation that bears her name: The Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation, which continues to help the disadvantaged through grants and donation of new books to at-risk children.

Film and television

In her most notable screen role, Fitzgerald played the part of singer Maggie Jackson in Jack Webb's 1955 jazz film ''Pete Kelly's Blues''. The film costarred Janet Leigh and singer Peggy Lee. Even though she had already worked in the movies (she had sung briefly in the 1942 Abbott and Costello film ''Ride 'Em Cowboy''), she was "delighted" when Norman Granz negotiated the role for her, and, "at the time....considered her role in the Warner Brothers movie the biggest thing ever to have happened to her." Amid ''The New York Times''' pan of the film when it opened in August 1955, the reviewer wrote, "About five minutes (out of ninety-five) suggest the picture this might have been. Take the ingenious prologue...Or take the fleeting scenes when the wonderful Ella Fitzgerald, allotted a few spoken lines, fills the screen and sound track with her strong mobile features and voice."

Similar to another African-American jazz singer, Lena Horne, Fitzgerald's race precluded major big-screen success. After ''Pete Kelly's Blues'', she appeared in sporadic movie cameos, in ''St. Louis Blues'' (1958), and ''Let No Man Write My Epitaph'' (1960). Much later, she appeared in the 1980s television drama ''The White Shadow''.

She also made numerous guest appearances on television shows, singing on ''The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom'', ''The Frank Sinatra Show'', and alongside Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Mel Tormé and many others. Perhaps her most unusual and intriguing performance was of the 'Three Little Maids' song from Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operetta ''The Mikado'' alongside Joan Sutherland and Dinah Shore on Shore's weekly variety series in 1963. Fitzgerald also made a one-off appearance alongside Sarah Vaughan and Pearl Bailey on a 1979 television special honoring Bailey. In 1980, she performed a medley of standards in a duet with Karen Carpenter on the Carpenters' television program, ''Music, Music, Music''.

Fitzgerald also appeared in TV commercials, her most memorable being an ad for Memorex. In the commercials, she sang a note that shattered a glass while being recorded on a Memorex cassette tape. The tape was played back and the recording also broke the glass, asking "Is it live, or is it Memorex?" She also starred in a number of commercials for Kentucky Fried Chicken, singing and scatting to the fast-food chain's longtime slogan, "We do chicken right!"

Her final commercial campaign was for American Express, in which she was photographed by Annie Leibovitz.

Discography

Collaborations

Fitzgerald's most famous collaborations were with the trumpeter Louis Armstrong, the guitarist Joe Pass, and the bandleaders Count Basie and Duke Ellington.

Fitzgerald recorded three Verve studio albums with Armstrong, two albums of standards (1956's ''Ella and Louis'' and 1957's ''Ella and Louis Again''), and a third album featured music from the Gershwin musical ''Porgy and Bess''. Fitzgerald also recorded a number of sides with Armstrong for Decca in the early 1950s.

Fitzgerald is sometimes referred to as the quintessential swing singer, and her meetings with Count Basie are highly regarded by critics. Fitzgerald features on one track on Basie's 1957 album ''One O'Clock Jump'', while her 1963 album ''Ella and Basie!'' is remembered as one of her greatest recordings. With the 'New Testament' Basie band in full swing, and arrangements written by a young Quincy Jones, this album proved a respite from the 'Songbook' recordings and constant touring that Fitzgerald was engaged in during this period. Fitzgerald and Basie also collaborated on the 1972 album ''Jazz at Santa Monica Civic '72'', and on the 1979 albums ''Digital III at Montreux'', ''A Classy Pair'' and ''A Perfect Match''.

Fitzgerald and Joe Pass recorded four albums together toward the end of Fitzgerald's career. She recorded several albums with piano accompaniment, but a guitar proved the perfect melodic foil for her. Fitzgerald and Pass appeared together on the albums ''Take Love Easy'' (1973), ''Easy Living'' (1986), ''Speak Love'' (1983) and ''Fitzgerald and Pass... Again'' (1976).

Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington recorded two live albums, and two studio albums. Her ''Duke Ellington Songbook'' placed Ellington firmly in the canon known as the Great American Songbook, and the 1960s saw Fitzgerald and the 'Duke' meet on the Côte d'Azur for the 1966 album ''Ella and Duke at the Cote D'Azur'', and in Sweden for ''The Stockholm Concert, 1966''. Their 1965 album ''Ella at Duke's Place'' is also extremely well received.

Fitzgerald had a number of famous jazz musicians and soloists as sidemen over her long career. The trumpeters Roy Eldridge and Dizzy Gillespie, the guitarist Herb Ellis, and the pianists Tommy Flanagan, Oscar Peterson, Lou Levy, Paul Smith, Jimmy Rowles, and Ellis Larkins all worked with Ella mostly in live, small group settings.

Possibly Fitzgerald's greatest unrealized collaboration (in terms of popular music) was a studio or live album with Frank Sinatra. The two appeared on the same stage only periodically over the years, in television specials in 1958 and 1959, and again on 1967's ''A Man and His Music + Ella + Jobim'', a show that also featured Antonio Carlos Jobim. Pianist Paul Smith has said, "Ella loved working with [Frank]. Sinatra gave her his dressing room on ''A Man and His Music'' and couldn’t do enough for her." When asked, Norman Granz would cite "complex contractual reasons" for the fact that the two artists never recorded together. Fitzgerald's appearance with Sinatra and Count Basie in June 1974 for a series of concerts at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas was seen as an important incentive for Sinatra to return from his self-imposed retirement of the early 1970s. The shows were a great success, and September 1975 saw them gross $1,000,000 in two weeks on Broadway, in a triumvirate with the Count Basie Orchestra.

Awards, citations and honors

Fitzgerald won thirteen Grammy awards, including one for Lifetime Achievement in 1967. Other major awards and honors she received during her career were the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Medal of Honor Award, National Medal of Art, first Society of Singers Lifetime Achievement Award, named "Ella" in her honor, Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement, UCLA Spring Sing.

Ella Fitzgerald was a quiet but ardent supporter of many charities and non-profit organizations, including the American Heart Association and the United Negro College Fund. In 1993, she established the "Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation" which continues to fund programs that perpetuate Ella's ideals.

Tributes

In 1997, Newport News, Virginia created a music festival with Christopher Newport University to honor Ella Fitzgerald in her birth city. The Ella Fitzgerald Music Festival is designed to teach the region's youth of the musical legacy of Fitzgerald and jazz. Past performers at the week-long festival include: Diana Krall, Arturo Sandoval, Jean Carne, Phil Woods, Aretha Franklin, Freda Payne, Cassandra Wilson, Ethel Ennis, David Sanborn, Jane Monheit, Dianne Reeves, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ramsey Lewis, Patti Austin, and Ann Hampton Callaway

Ann Hampton Callaway, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and Patti Austin have all recorded albums in tribute to Fitzgerald. Callaway's album ''To Ella with Love'' (1996) features fourteen jazz standards made popular by Fitzgerald, and the album also features the trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. Bridgewater's album ''Dear Ella'' (1997) featured many musicians that were closely associated with Fitzgerald during her career, including the pianist Lou Levy, the trumpeter Benny Powell, and Fitzgerald's second husband, the double bassist Ray Brown. Bridgewater's following album, ''Live at Yoshi's'', was recorded live on April 25, 1998, what would have been Fitzgerald's 81st birthday. Patti Austin's album, ''For Ella'' (2002) features 11 songs most immediately associated with Fitzgerald, and a twelfth song, "Hearing Ella Sing" is Austin's tribute to Fitzgerald. The album was nominated for a Grammy. In 2007 ''We All Love Ella'', was released, a tribute album recorded for the 90th anniversary of Fitzgerald's birth. It featured artists such as Michael Bublé, Natalie Cole, Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, Diana Krall, k.d. lang, Queen Latifah, Ledisi, Dianne Reeves, Linda Ronstadt, and Lizz Wright, collating songs most readily associated with the "First Lady of Song".

The folk singer Odetta's album ''To Ella'' (1998) is dedicated to Fitzgerald, but features no songs associated with her. Fitzgerald's long serving accompanist Tommy Flanagan affectionately remembered Fitzgerald on his album ''Lady be Good...For Ella'' (1994).

Fitzgerald is also referred to on the 1987 song "Ella, elle l'a" by French singer France Gall and the Belgian singer Kate Ryan, the 1976 Stevie Wonder hit "Sir Duke" from his album ''Songs in the Key of Life'', and the song "I Love Being Here With You", written by Peggy Lee and Bill Schluger. Sinatra's 1986 recording of "Mack the Knife" from his album ''L.A. Is My Lady'' (1984) includes a homage to some of the song's previous performers, including 'Lady Ella' herself. She is also honored in the song "First Lady" by Canadian artist Nikki Yanofsky.

In 2008, the Downing-Gross Cultural Arts Center in Newport News named its brand new 276-seat theater the Ella Fitzgerald Theater. The theater is located several blocks away from her birthplace on Marshall Avenue. The Grand Opening performers (October 11 & 12, 2008) were Roberta Flack and Queen Esther Marrow.

USPS stamp and Yonkers statue

There is a statue of Fitzgerald in Yonkers, the city in which she grew up. It is located southeast of the main entrance to the Amtrak/Metro-North Railroad station. On January 10, 2007, the United States Postal Service announced that Fitzgerald would be honored with her own 39-cent postage stamp. The stamp was released in April 2007 as part of the Postal Service's Black Heritage series.

Filmography

! Year	! Film	! Role	! Notes and awards
	''Ride 'Em Cowboy''	Ruby
		Maggie Jackson
		Singer
	''Let No Man Write My Epitaph''	Flora

References

Further reading

Nicholson, Stuart. (1996) ''Ella Fitzgerald''. Gollancz. ISBN 0-575-40032-3

Gourse, Leslie. (1998) ''The Ella Fitzgerald Companion: Seven Decades of Commentary''. Music Sales Ltd. ISBN 0-02-864625-8

Johnson, J. Wilfred. (2001) ''Ella Fitzgerald: A Complete Annotated Discography''. McFarland & Co Inc. ISBN 0-7864-0906-1

External links

The official website of the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation

Ella Fitzgerald Complete Discography

Ella Fitzgerald: Twelve Essential Performances by Stuart Nicholson (Jazz.com).

Ella Fitzgerald at the Library of Congress

Official Web Site of Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald, The Official Ed Sullivan Show Website

Redsugar's Ella page

'Remembering Ella' by Phillip D. Atteberry

Todd's Ella Fitzgerald Lyrics Page

Ella Swings Gently - The Ella Fitzgerald Pages

Ella Fitzgerald Tribute CD Video Footage

New York Times article on Ella's early years

Listen to Big Band Serenade podcast, episode 6 Includes complete NBC remote broadcast of "Ella Fitzgerald & her Orchestra" from the Roseland Ballroom (or download)

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