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Ringo Way. Born in Newport News, Va., orphaned and raised by an aunt in Yonkers, Ella Fitzgerald in her early days was a skinny girl, but over the years her stature grew in both senses. She is supersensitive about her weight, and understandably cried through the night once when—after she had performed with another heavy singer—a critic wrote: "Last night the stage contained 600 Ibs. of pure talent." The talent moves as well as sings. One of Ella Fitzgerald's secrets is that she really wishes she were a dancer. When she feels good onstage, she becomes as physical as she is vocal, cutting steps left and right to underscore her song.
Ella is a hypo-millionairess now, can afford a Don Loper wardrobe, and endlessly redecorates her house in Beverly Hills. She is also kind, thoughtful, and painfully unsure of herself. She spends her free evenings sewing or watching television or writing new songs. She has just written one in homage to Ringo Starr, the Beatle:
Don't knock the rhythm of the kids today;
Remember they're playing the Ringo way.
Once married for four years to Bass Player Ray Brown, Ella has a son, Ray Jr., who plays football and basketball for Hollywood High School and is a drummer in a combo as well.
She herself was educated only through the ninth grade; unthinking people hurt her deeply by imitating her weak grammar or by ascribing to her an accent she does not have. The mere mention of a high school dropout will start her lecturing: "You never know, one of these kids may have something but not the money or means to finish."
She is pleasantly informal, but she does have her formal side. "It used to bother me when people I didn't know came up and called me Ella," she says. "It seemed to me they should say 'Miss Fitzgerald,' but somehow they never do." Perhaps this is because there are several million Fitzgeralds but only one Ella.