Ella Fitzgerald, the First Lady of Song, was born in 1917 in Viriginia, but shortly thereafter she moved with her mother to Yonkers, New York. The untimely death of her mother was a terrible blow to the teenage Fitzgerald, who left the home of her abusive stepfather. She spent time in orphanages and brothels and even lived on the street for a brief spell. Her voice was her ticket out of poverty – at the age of 17, she entered a talent competition at Harlem’s Apollo Theater and won first place.

Fitzgerald was shy and not inclined to network in the jazz scene, but she became world famous nonetheless due to her extraordinary talent. She had a vocal range of more than three octaves. She was known for her clarity of tone and accuracy of pitch. She was a tremendous scat singer. Scat is a form of vocal improvisation in which a singer uses nonsensical syllables (like “bop doo wah”) instead of words.

Ella Fitzgerald was the recipient of thirteen Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She died in 1996 due to complications from diabetes.

Billie Holiday, also known as Lady Day, was born to unwed parents in Philadelphia in 1915. Raised mostly by her aunt, Holiday had a difficult childhood marked by drug use, sexual abuse, and frequent truancy from school.

As a teenager, Holiday moved to Harlem with her mother, where she encountered the likes of Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald, with whom she had a friendly rivalry.

Holiday’s distinctive voice is unmistakable. Lacking any formal training, she is known not for her technique but for the raw emotion that she put into her songs. Her tone quality was raspy and delicate, but she was a powerful performer and skilled scat singer. When she was hired to sing with the big band of Artie Shaw, she was the first black woman to sing with a white band (a controversial pairing that resulted in heckling from some audiences).

Holliday’s most famous song, “Strange Fruit,” addressed the issue of rampant lynching in the American south. It was unusual to address a political issue so openly. Her performance and recording of the song resulted in backlash from some people, but it is now considered one of the most important protest songs in the struggle for racial equality.