Recorded in 1938. Four years earlier she was sleeping on the streets of Harlem.
New York, May 2, 1938.
Four years earlier, Ella Fitzgerald’s life had nearly disappeared into the streets.
Her mother had died in 1932.
Her home life collapsed. She was sent to a reform school, escaped and spent time surviving around Harlem while still a teenager.
Then, in November 1934, she entered an amateur competition at the Apollo Theater.
Singing opened a door.
Band leader Chick Webb eventually hired her.
But the recording that would turn Ella Fitzgerald from a promising young singer into a national star began with something much smaller:
a childhood nursery rhyme.
YOUTUBE 1 — ELLA FITZGERALD OFFICIAL AUDIO
Fitzgerald herself suggested transforming the rhyme into A-Tisket, A-Tasket.
According to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, she remembered playing the rhyme as a child and wondered why a nursery song could not be made to swing.
The band rehearsed the arrangement for only about one hour.
Then Ella and Chick Webb’s orchestra recorded it that night.
Even after the session, success was not obvious.
Decca recording engineer Bob Stephens reportedly did not want the company to release it.
Webb pushed.
The record came out.
YOUTUBE 2 — ORIGINAL MAY 2, 1938 RECORDING
On June 18, the record entered the charts.
Within weeks, it was No. 1.
It remained on the hit parade for nineteen weeks and ultimately became a million seller.
The teenager who had spent part of the Depression without a stable home was suddenly one of the most recognizable young voices in American music.
The contrast is extraordinary.
Nothing about A-Tisket, A-Tasket sounds burdened by Fitzgerald’s recent past.
It is playful.
Light.
Almost childlike.
YOUTUBE 3 — 1938 RECORDING
Perhaps that is part of its power.
Fitzgerald did not become famous by turning her suffering into a tragic performance.
She became famous by taking something remembered from childhood and filling it with rhythm, humor and personality.
The Smithsonian describes the record as the single that launched her into fame.
From there, the career would last six decades.
But in 1938, none of that future was guaranteed.
There was simply a twenty-year-old singer, an orchestra, a nursery rhyme and roughly an hour of rehearsal.
The engineer did not believe the record should come out.
Chick Webb insisted.
Listeners decided the rest.
Four years earlier, Ella Fitzgerald had been a frightened teenager with almost no stability.
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On May 2, 1938, she walked into a studio.
By summer, America knew her voice.
