Appellation(s): Queen of Jazz, Lady Ella, First Lady of Song.

Occupations: Composer, Actress, Songwriter, Jazz singer, Film actor, Conductor, Jazz musician.

Birth date/death: April 25, 1917 - June 15, 1996

Place of death: Beverly Hills, CA

She eventually learned to imitate her favorite singers and dancers and would practice at home furthermore improving her skill. In 1932 her mother Temperance died in a car accident leaving 15-year-old Ella an orphan during the climax of the Great Depression. Allegedly her stepfather mistreated her, at around 1933 she ran off to her aunt's house in Harlem to escape.

Her aunt struggled to support her. She began to skip school and took up work as a lookout at a bordello and as a courier for a numbers runner. Her ties with criminal work got her sent to the overcrowded Colored Orphan Asylum in Riverdale. She was soon moved to the New York Training School for Girls. The school was said to treat the kids badly and it was quite true.

Ella was said to be held in a basement in one of the cottages, being only fed water and bread. They happen to also beat her, this led to her to run away from the school. She learned to dance for tips on 125th Street in New York.

After the death of her mother is when most of her problems began, she ran away from her abusive stepfather and moved in with her aunt. Her aunt couldn't support the both of them in which I can only assume that Ella went off to the streets and got involved with some criminal acts. Due to this, she was sent to an asylum for orphans. She was then sent to a girl's rehabilitation school, which turned out to be more like prison; they neglected her and beat her. She ran away and became a street performer, slowly gaining money.

Click on a song to listen to it!

(The articles I found didn't say much about her school life and rather focused on her journey instead, so I do apologize for my lack of knowledge on her education.)

She sung in Connee Boswell's style singing the song "Judy" & "The Object of My Affection." She won first prize. She had also won the chance to perform at Apollo for a week, but due to her shaggy appearance she was never given that part of the prize. In January of 1935 Ella had won the chance to preform with the Tiny Bradshaw band at Harlem Opera House. Later she was introduced to the drummer and bandleader Chick Webb by Bardu Ali! After a bit of Ali persuading Webb, he gave in and offered her the opportunity to test with his band at a dance at Yale University. Ella was then asked to join Webb's orchestra.