MUSIC

Ella Fitzgerald remains a glowing icon of American jazz culture, modern entertainment and irrestible musicality. Dubbed ?The First Lady of Song,? Fitzgerald was the most popular female jazz singer in the United States for more than half a century. The jazz great was born in Newport News, Virginia on April 25, 1917. In her lifetime, she won 13 Grammy? Awards and sold over 40 million albums. Her audiences were as diverse as her vocal range. They were rich and poor, all races, religions and nationalities. In fact, many of them had just one binding factor in common ? they all loved Ella. With a partnership that began in 1998, Christopher Newport University and the City of Newport News celebrate her life and the music she loved with the Ella Fitzgerald Music Festival. Now in its eleventh year, the Festival finds a home at Christopher Newport University?s Ferguson Center for the Arts. Each year the CNU Jazz Ensemble and the CNU Vocal Jazz Ensemble travel to many area schools to perform and talk about the history of jazz and the contributions of Ella Fitzgerald. The Ella Fitzgerald Music Festival brings the finest jazz artists in the world to the Hampton Roads community, in her honor.