This Day In Music History: April 25th
1917, Ella Fitzgerald, the Queen of Jazz, was born in Newport News, Va. Fitzgerald is one of the most renowned jazz singers in history, thanks to her warm, sweet voice and signature scatting technique. She first sang publicly at the Apollo Theater’s Amateur Night, where the crowd warmly received her rendition of Hoagy Carmichael’s “Judy.” Within a couple years, she had started touring with Chick Webb and had released songs on the Decca label. Throughout her career, Fitzgerald released hits including “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” “Dream A Little Dream,” and “Someone To Watch Over Me.” She performed alongside stars including Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Sinatra and Count Basie. Fitzgerald died in 1996 after being diagnosed with diabetes and undergoing multiple major surgeries.
1923 - Blues guitar legend Albert King was born. One of 13 children, he was born Albert King Nelson in Indianola, Miss., and his family moved to Arkansas when he was eight years old. King made his first guitar out of a cigar box, a branch from a shrub, and a strand of broom wire; he later bought a real guitar for $1.25. He learned to play it himself, left-handed with the strings upside down. He developed a distinct, powerful string-bending style and would become known as one of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" (along with B.B. King and Freddie King). Also admired for his soulful, smoky vocals, Albert King is probably best known for his 1967 single, "Born Under a Bad Sign." King died of a heart attack at home in Memphis, Tenn., in 1992. He had played his last show two days earlier, in Los Angeles.
source: thecurrent
