Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 – June 15, 1996), also known as Lady Ella, was one of the most important jazz singers of the 20th Century, the winner of thirteen Grammy Awards, and the National Medal of Art presented by President Reagan. Gifted with a three-octave vocal range, she was noted for her purity of tone, near faultless phrasing and intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing.

Awards

• Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Medal of Honor Award (1979)
• 13 Grammy awards, including one for Lifetime Achievement (1967)
• National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences' Lifetime Achievement Award
• Pied Piper Award
• American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers highest honor
• George and Ira Gershwin Award for Outstanding Achievement
• National Medal of Art awarded by President Ronald Reagan (1987)
• The first Society of Singers Lifetime Achievement Award, named "Ella" in her honor (1989)
• Honorary doctorates from the Universities of Yale, University of Dartmouth and University of Maryland
• Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year from Harvard (1982)