Ella Fitzgerald: A Twentieth-Century Life

by Tanya Lee Stone

The name ?Ella Fitzgerald? brings to mind a silky voice crooning jazz standards. The First Lady of Song earned her nickname by touring almost nonstop for over fifty years, winning thirteen Grammys, and recording album after album. But who was the woman behind the name? How did a teenage runaway become a renowned jazz singer? Long after her homeless days, Ella remained insecure?she often suffered stage fright. Yet she was a born performer, able to improvise lyrics and record songs in single takes. She even seemed more comfortable on stage than off, and close friends found her hard to truly know. Tanya Lee Stone?s Up Close biography delivers several never-before-published details of this intensely private, legendary singer?s life.

Genres: Biography Memoir, Nonfiction

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 10, 2008

About the author

Tanya Lee Stone is an award-winning author of books for kids and teens. Her work, which includes YA fiction (A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl), picture books (Elizabeth Leads the Way and Sandy's Circus), and nonfiction (Almost Astronauts and The Good, the Bad, and the Barbie) has won national awards such as the ALA's Sibert Medal, SCBWI's Golden Kite Award, YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction, Jane Addams Book Award Honor, Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor, NCTE's Orbus Pictus, and Bank Street's Flora Steiglitz Award. Forthcoming titles include Who Says Women Can't Be Doctors?! and The House that Jane Built (Holt 2013) and Courage Has No Color (Candlewick 2013).

Reviews

[Jasmine Hariri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Up Close:Ella Fitzgerald by Tanya Lee Stone was a great biography. I recommend this book because it is interesting as to the facts and Fitzgerald's timeline. Ella Fitzgerald was a jazz singer born on April 25, 1917 and died June 15, 1996. She used her amazing vocals as her "instrument" in jazz. She could also be referred to as the First Lady of Song, Lady Ella, and Queen of Jazz. Ella lived in a difficult time period to be a woman and singing because female musicians were not taken seriously. Since Ella lived her life so privately, there have been parts of her life that have been misreported and little information is given about her. It was also difficult to find info about her because she altered the truths of her life, possibly because she din't want people to know about her life too much.

[Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This biography takes a detailed look at Ella Fitzgerald’s entire life. The writing is easy to follow for young readers and several black and white photographs bring life to the story. Children who are more interested in characters than an action-filled plot will most enjoy this book. Tanya Lee Stone has obviously spent time researching Ella’s life. The book includes source notes, bibliography, index and photo credits. It is part of the Up Close series, which has books on Rachel Carson, Oprah Winfrey, and John Steinbeck among others.

Starred review in Kirkus, Positive review in School Library Journal

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love a little background on my favourite woman of song

[Adelyn Banken]

This book is about the life a famous jazz singer named Ella Fitzgerald. Her childhood was basically her being homeless, because of her father treating her poorly, until she was 12 years old. She then entered a community contest to show off her dance moves, but she than felt insecure and sang instead. The crowd was moved by her voice and loved her immediately. Her life continued with her fame, fortune, marriages and divorces, and many other changes in her career made her even more known to everyone. Sadly, it cam to pass when she died of old age. She was known to everyone and still is.

[Solveig Oskarsdottir · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great insight to Ella's life, career and the world around her. It's a short book, you could read it in a day. As it doesn't go into too great a detail on anything it manages to cover quite a lot of interesting facts about the jazz scene, life in america at the time she was becoming famous and collaborations between her and other artists. Love Ella even more after reading this book.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a biographgy explaining Ella Fitzgeralds life and all of her amazing accomplishments. I really like how this book was written and displayed but it could work on how things are ordered in regards to people and events in her life because it gets a little confusing. If you are interested in this historical artist, check out this book!

[Salona Khanal · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most attention grabbing quotes that I noted while reading Up Close: Ella Fitzgerald by Tanya Lee Stone was “‘I’m going to make something out of myself one day’”in page 37. This was actually a quote said by Ella and she was known to say this a lot. This quote stood out to me because I felt a deep connection with Ella when I read this. She had said this during her hard times in her career and this reveals her motivation and devotion which later leads to her success in her character. I felt a connection to this because there have been moments in my life where I have felt like I am useless but I still was motivated to prove myself and this makes the reader aware about how hard working Ella was.


The author did one of the best jobs of describing Ella as a hard-working and kind-hearted person and emphasized on the events that are essential and made huge impacts to her life. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the involvement of the quote above gave a clear description of Ella’s character. The events such as many of Ella’s affairs and times in which she had to face criticism as a black woman helped the reader better understand Ella’s hardship and her road to success. I would recommend this book to people who are struggling with what they want to achieve and who need inspiration, especially the ones in school or college, because this book would give them motivation and strength to keep on going and to never give up.

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

The "Up Close" series is relatively new, but the books I've read in the series are all extremely well done. This one is no exception. Ella Fitzgerald is an icon, not only in the world of jazz, but also in the world of popular music. Her distinctive style and fluid range set her above the many fine jazz singers that were popular when she first started out. Through the years she continued to learn, grow and stretch herself so that her recordings crossed over into the "pop" classification. The "Up Close" books are done by excellent writers who have carefully researched their subject and then made the information accessible to kids in middle school and above. The life of the subject is told honestly, but the lurid details are left for adult biographies. The reader feels as if they really know the subject by the end of the book which is a mark of a well-written biography. I look forward to reading more in this series.

[The Loft]

Who has one of the most beautiful voices in recorded history? One might arguably answer: Ella Fitzgerald, “The First Lady of Song.” Ella, well known for her smooth, crooning voice, was a workhorse who toured 40-45 weeks a year, but off stage was an intensely private person. Tanya Lee Stone takes you through Ella’s life as she leaves with her family from her poverty-stricken home in Tempie, Virginia to New York City; from Ella’s teenage life on the street and “singing for her supper” until she breaks into the world of jazz. Stone highlights the beginnings of career, including her first film appearance (Abbott and Costello’s “Ride ‘Em Cowboy”), her experience as a world-famous vocal artist in the segregated South, singing with jazz greats (such as Louis Armstrong), and her transition to different music styles in her later years, including a “scat” performance on a Memorex commercial.

[Cami · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is more of a Jazz history covering the time period that Ella Fitzgerald was on the earth. According to the book she was a very private person and so it seems to me that Ms. Stone did the best with what information on Ella that she had.
For me, I really liked that I got to read about her part in the history of swing, be-bop, jazz as well as all the 'big names' she worked with.
I'm definitely a fan. This was a nice little book to read.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first book I've read about Ella and it was a good start. The book contains lots of references to other books and people to gain more information. Although the title refers to the story as being 'up close' it really is more of an account with a handful of quotes from people who were there. Ella was a very private person so there isn't much out there that reflects who she really was.

[Brooke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Again, I'm trying to read some Teen Nonfiction, and this was one I wanted to try. It was informative, but it read like an essay written for/by a 2nd grader. I am glad to have more information on Mz. Fitzgerald's life, but I think I'll opt for a grown-up bio the next time.

[Sydneia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provides an almost in depth look into the life of this jazz legend. Because she was so private, you still feel like many aspects of her life are missing. The book is ideal for ages 10-12 with its simplistic vocabulary.

[BCPL Youth Services Librarian]

Click to see book in BCPL's online catalog

[Evie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like this book at all. I only got to about half way and then tossed it aside. I didn't like how most of what she wrote was just quotes. Anyways i wouldn't reccomend this book to anyone