Ella Fitzgerald: New Amerykah Badu's Music

631 Words3 Pages
Discovery Paper- Ella Fitzgerald “Who gave you permission to rearrange me? Certainly, certainly not me… the world is mines, when I wake up, I don’t need nobody telling me the time.” The above lyrics come from my favorite song from one of my favorite female artists, Erykah Badu. The song, “Certainly”, was from her 1997 debut album, Baduism. Considered to be one of the pioneers in the neo-soul movement, Badu’s music, in my opinion, is perfect combination of R&B, jazz, blues, and soul, with a surge of hip-hop. She’s known at her shows for her impromptu style; she’ll perform a brand new song at random, or do a call-and-response section in the middle of her song unbeknownst to her band and/or back-up singers. What I like about her is her resistance to the status quo, her sounds has been to her original style for over ten years. Badu’s fifth studio album, New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh) will be released on March 30, 2010. While it is important to know all about my favorite singer, I cannot say she is the first to have such a diverse style. She was heavily influenced by no other than the late, great, “Lady of Song,” Ms. Ella Fitzgerald. Ella Fitzgerald was born on April 25, 1918, in Newport News, Virginia, but she spent her youth just outside New York City in Yonkers, New York, and received her musical education in public schools. During elementary school she began singing at her local church, the Bethany African Methodist Episcopal Church. At fifteen her mother died and she was cared for by her aunt in Harlem, a black neighborhood in New York that was rich with jazz music. When only sixteen, she received her first big break at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, when she won an amateur-night contest and impressed saxophonist-bandleader Benny…show more content…
Artist Profile: Jazz Vocalist Ella Fitzgerald. 2010. 17 March 2010 . The Offical Erykah Badu. 17 March 2010 . The Official Ella Fitzgerald Website. 2010. 15 March 2010

More about Ella Fitzgerald: New Amerykah Badu's Music

Open Document