As the author of the first comprehensive biography published since Ella Fitzgerald’s death, in 1996, I am indebted to the 21st-century sources that helped me to change the narrative of her life from that of a shy, passive singer controlled by her managers to an original artist with a sense of mission to further “social harmony” and express her versatility to the fullest.
I benefited from YouTube posts of Fitzgerald’s live TV appearances from Europe. I avidly read many Black newspapers, recently digitized and searchable, from around the country—a gold mine. I copied hundreds of pages from the singer’s archive at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, including her address book and canceled checks. I talked to family and friends who knew both the artist and the woman.
