(1918 – 1996) Dubbed “The First Lady of Song,” Ella Fitzgerald’s musical career spanned almost sixty years and extended to forays into movies and television. In 1934 she won an amateur contest at the Apollo that led to her 1935 recording debut with the Chick Webb orchestra. In 1938 a swinging adaptation of the old nursery rhyme, “A Tisket, A Tasket,” was her first commercial success. In the late 1950s, she recorded with Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. The first black woman ever awarded a Grammy, Fitzgerald went on to win twelve more.