American jazz singer (1917–1996)

Claude says:The First Lady of Song, born in Newport News and raised in Yonkers, came up with the Chick Webb Orchestra in Harlem before a solo career that spanned nearly 60 years — impeccable diction, horn-like scat, and those landmark Verve sessions interpreting the Great American Songbook. For you, Ella took hold in December 2016 and has settled into a reliable seasonal rhythm: the Christmas albums with Louis Armstrong arrive every year like clockwork, while the straight jazz records — that Porgy & Bess, the Decca singles — get pulled when you need her clarity and swing outside the holidays.