Google celebrates Ella Fitzgerald’s birthday with doodle

PanARMENIAN.Net - Ella Fitzgerald, whose great vocal range and perfect pitch won her the monikers 'the first lady of song' and 'the queen of jazz', has been commemorated in a Google doodle.

The doodle, which shows the American singer performing on stage, is published on what would have been her 96th birthday. Fitzgerald was born on April 25, 1917 and died on June 15, 1996 at the age of 79.

In a career that spanned six decades, The Guardian reminds, Fitzgerald recorded with other great figures including Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Louis Armstrong.

Her repertoire included jazz, show tunes, bossa nova and opera.

Recording more than 200 albums – with sales of 40m – and winning 13 Grammy awards, she is best known for her series of Songbook albums, celebrating songwriters such as Ellington, Cole Porter and the Gershwins.

Her rise to fame was spurred by regular guest appearances on several major U.S. TV shows, including the Bing Crosby Show, the Frank Sinatra Show, the Ed Sullivan Show, the Tonight Show, the Nat King Cole Show, the Andy Willams Show and the Dean Martin Show.

In 1987, U.S. president Ronald Reagan awarded her the national medal of arts.

She gave her final concert at New York's Carnegie Hall in 1991.