The first step in Ella Fitzgerald’s stratospheric career took place in New Haven. In 1935, Ella Fitzgerald met the noted bandleader Chick Webb at Harlem’s Opera House’s amateur night. He was impressed with her ability, but unsure she had the right look to be the singer of a famous band. It was her performance at a private dance in New Haven – a show for a Yale fraternity – that convinced Webb that Ella had what it took to join the band. She was 18 years old, and by the time she was 22, Fitzgerald had taken over the band in the wake of Webb’s death.
Fitzgerald went on to win 13 Grammys and sell over 40 million records. Later in Ella’s life, she was given an honorary degree from Yale University. “I guess this is where it all started,” she recalled that day.
The documentary Unsung Heroes, a history of jazz in New Haven, will be screened on Long Wharf Theatre’s Stage II Monday, Sept. 27 at 7:30 p.m.