Quotes About Ella Fitzgerald

#1. People like Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Marlene Dietrich and Sammy Davis Jr. all walked me down this path of entertainment.

Dionne Warwick

#2. If you want to learn how to sing, listen to Ella Fitzgerald.

Vincente Minnelli

#3. The one radio voice that I listened to above others belonged to Ella Fitzgerald. There was a quality to her voice that fascinated me, and I'd sing along with her, trying to catch the subtle ways she shaded her voice, the casual yet clean way she sang the words.

Doris Day

#4. Patsy Cline belongs shoulder-to-shoulder with Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald.

Elvis Costello

#5. We used to sing along to Judy Garland and Ella Fitzgerald records together. She had the most amazing voice ... She's always encouraged me, and she's still that person who, when things look dire, lifts me up and reminds me of who I am and that we all have a capacity for greatness.

Sheryl Crow

#6. I would say my greatest musical influences have been Ella Fitzgerald and Mary J. Blige.

Estelle

#7. Whitney Houston and Ella Fitzgerald are my musical mothers. I learned everything I know about true R&B, pop and jazz singing from these stunning performers and unparalleled musicians.

Ciara Renee

#8. I didn't really grow up on hip-hop. Ella Fitzgerald and the old school jazz divas are more my comfort zone.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw

#9. I also met, early on Ella Fitzgerald. Her songbooks are some of the most amazing bodies of work.

Johnny Mathis

#10. I want to sing like Aretha Franklin. Before her I wanted the technical ability of Ella Fitzgerald.

Lena Horne

#11. I'm comfortable singing jazz. The only thing I was concerned about is that everybody, even in jazz, has their own style. To me, the queen of doodling was Ella Fitzgerald, and scatting is something I never thought I could do.

Gladys Knight

#12. I've always sung. I was really into musical theater when I was growing up. As a kid, I listened to Ella Fitzgerald and Nina Simone, actually, on cassette tapes.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw

#13. I guess my biggest influence was actually my Grandfather. He used to play old records on vinyl, and would play old jazz and soul music like Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and The Rat Pack and swing music.

Ella Henderson

#14. I have struggled for decades now with the fear of and resistance to change - mostly in the realms of technology, transportation, and the ways people choose to communicate. If I had a theme song, it would be that lovely song 'I'm Old-Fashioned,' as sung by Ella Fitzgerald.

Julia Glass

#15. I came from a family where my people didn't like rhythm and blues. Bing Crosby - "Pennies from Heaven" - Ella Fitzgerald, was all I heard.

Little Richard

#16. I would love to sing with Ella Fitzgerald.

Crystal Waters

#17. My background was always more soulful pop. I was named after Ella Fitzgerald, and when I was a kid, I was listening to Lauryn Hill, Etta James, Joss Stone. For me, it was always about the voice.

Ella Eyre

#18. My style of singing has always been referred to 'soul' singing when it fact it's more influenced by English R&B Blues Shouting. I'm closer to Led Zeppelin as a vocalist than to Ella Fitzgerald. It was torture dealing with major labels.

Alison Moyet

#19. One of my biggest musical influences is definitely Ella Fitzgerald as a vocalist.

Elle Varner

#20. I respected Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra. Those were my heroes, and they were 10 years older than I was.

Tony Bennett

#21. I just used to love the sound of especially a female vocal like Ella Fitzgerald for example, it's just that empowering self-control that can make a whole room go silent. I fell in love with that sound.

Ella Henderson

#22. I was raised in a mostly white neighborhood. I was this little white girl jamming out to Ella Fitzgerald and Bobby Brown.

Jojo

#23. I like singers like Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.

Andy Morris

#24. I look at the careers of people I'm standing on the shoulders of. People like Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis Jr., and Sarah Vaughan. These are icons I wanted to emulate, and I feel like they've been holding me up for quite a long time.

Dionne Warwick

#25. No one in the world can beat Ella Fitzgerald as a riff singer.

Ethel Waters

#26. I have a fondness for jazz, particularly for jazz singers, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald all the way through the Sinatra era.

Bob Iger

#27. When I was 3 or 4, I seemed to be bursting with music. They played Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Frank Sinatra in the house, so I learned my vocabulary from song lyrics - I was literally singing before I was talking.

Dan Hill

#28. I think I do better when I sing.

Ella Fitzgerald

#29. It isn't where you came from; it's where you're going that counts.

Ella Fitzgerald

#30. I'm very shy, and I shy away from people. But the moment I hit the stage, it's a different feeling I get nerve from somewhere; maybe it's because it's something I love to do.

Ella Fitzgerald

#31. Whatever she does to my songs, she always makes them sound better.

Ella Fitzgerald

#32. You take romance - I'll take Jell-O.

Ella Fitzgerald

#33. The only thing better than singing is more singing.

Ella Fitzgerald

#34. What everyone wants more than anything else is to be loved.

Ella Fitzgerald

#35. Music is the universal language ... it brings people closer together.

Ella Fitzgerald

#36. [On bebop years] All I did was sing 'How High the Moon.' It seemed like the only song I ever sang.

Ella Fitzgerald

#37. Sometimes when we're flying or in the hotel, I might run over songs, or in the bathroom.

Ella Fitzgerald

#38. The fabulous places I've been, wonderful things that've happened, great people I've met ought to make a story.

Ella Fitzgerald

#39. I guess what everyone wants more than anything else is to be loved. And to know that you loved me for my singing is too much for me. Forgive me if I don't have all the words. Maybe I can sing it and you'll understand.

Ella Fitzgerald

#40. When I'm on stage I feel at home

Ella Fitzgerald

#41. A lot of singers think all they have to do is exercise their tonsils to get ahead. They refuse to look for new ideas and new outlets, so they fall by the wayside ... I'm going to try to find out the new ideas before the others do.

Ella Fitzgerald

#42. She is amazingly creative, bringing so much more to a song than just a singer. She is a first-class musician and the most gracious person in the world.

Ella Fitzgerald

#43. Did I do all right?

Ella Fitzgerald

#44. Coming through the years, and finding that I not only have just the fans of my day, but the young ones of today - that's what it means, it means it was worth all of it.

Ella Fitzgerald

#45. Some kids in Italy call me 'Mama Jazz; I thought that was so cute. As long as they don't call me 'Grandma Jazz.'

Ella Fitzgerald

#46. Everybody wants to know about my style and how it came about. It's no big secret. It's the way I feel.

Ella Fitzgerald

#47. Ella knows her way around her voice as very few people today. But there are times when she seems to be unaware there are things the human voice just doesn't do. She does them.

Ella Fitzgerald

#48. I know I'm no glamour girl, and it's not easy for me to get up in front of a crowd of people. It used to bother me a lot, but now I've got it figured out that God gave me this talent to use, so I just stand there and sing.

Ella Fitzgerald

#49. Listen to her voice, don't look at her.

Ella Fitzgerald

#50. Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong.

Ella Fitzgerald

#51. I stole everything I ever heard, but mostly I stole from the horns.

Ella Fitzgerald

#52. She has been more famous, over a longer time span, than any other female singer.

Ella Fitzgerald

#53. When we were at the Apollo, Holiday was a block away. I asked her for her autograph.

Ella Fitzgerald

#54. I don't want to say the wrong thing, which I always do. I think I do better when I sing.

Ella Fitzgerald