time, I wanted to know more about Ella, part of the answer to the clue of 19a and the first name of Ella Jane Fitzgerald, the American jazz singer (1917-1996). So I explored the net and got to learn that she earned many sobriquets in her lifetime, namely, ‘First Lady of Song’, ‘Queen of Jazz’ and ‘Lady Ella. She became famous all the more for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, intonation and a ‘horn-like’ improvisational ability, chiefly in her scat singing. After an initial setback, she achieved stability in musical success with the Chick Webb Orchestra, performing far and wide across the country. She was most often associated with the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. Her rendition of the nursery rhyme ‘A-Tisket, A-Tasket’ shot both Webb and her to national fame. She took over the band when Webb died, but soon left it behind to start her solo career. She recorded some of her more widely noted works with ‘Verve Records’. Later on, she acted in films and appeared as a guest on popular television. Her musical collaborations with Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and ‘The Ink Spots’ were some of her most notable acts outside her solo career. These partnerships boosted her career and they produced some of her best-known songs such as “Dream a Little Dream of Me”, “Cheek to Cheek”, “Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall” and “It don’t mean a thing”. She gave her last public performance in 1993 and three years later, she died of deteriorating health. Needless to mention, 14 Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts, the NAACP’s inaugural President’s Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom were among the several accolades that she received.
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