BBC - Radio 4 Woman's Hour -Ella Fitzgerald

Celebrating the First Lady of Song

Ira Gershwin once said "I didn't realize our songs were so good until Ella sang them.” But the first time Ella Fitzgerald got up on stage at the age of seventeen, she was planning to dance rather than to sing. Thankfully she changed her mind, becoming an icon of jazz, the definitive exponent of scat singing and one of the first performers to demand the same pay as white artists.

To celebrate what would have been her 90th birthday earlier this year, a number of artists are paying tribute to Ella at the opening of the London Jazz Festival. Jenni is joined by poet and playwright Bonnie Greer, and jazz singer Lea Delaria, to discuss her life and examine why she continues to inspire singers from all over the world.

'We All Love Ella' , London Jazz Festival , Friday 16 November 2007, 7.30pm ,Royal Festival Hall, London.

'Legends: Ella Fitzgerald’' is on BBC 4 on Friday 16th November 2007 at 9pm.

Bonnie Greer's play 'Marilyn and Ella Live at the Macambo' will open at the Theatre Royal Stratford East at the end of February 2007.

Ella Fitzgerald
London Jazz Festival
Royal Festival Hall
BBC Radio 3, London Jazz Festival
Lea Delaria
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