Ella Fitzgerald was an American jazz singer known as the "First Lady of Song" for her pure tone, perfect pitch, and dazzling improvised scat singing. She got her start as a teenager in 1934, winning amateur night at Harlem's Apollo Theater after switching from a planned dance routine to singing at the last minute. She recorded thousands of songs over her long career, won more than a dozen Grammy Awards, and is remembered as one of the greatest and most influential vocalists in the history of American music.