Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 – June 15, 1996), also known as the "First Lady of Song" "Queen of Jazz" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist.
With a vocal range spanning three octaves (D♭3 to D♭6), she was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing and intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing. She was a notable interpreter of the Great American Songbook. Over the course of her 59-year recording career, she was the winner of 13 Grammy Awards and was awarded the National Medal of Arts by Ronald Reagan and the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George H. W. Bush.
Events
- 404 BC – Peloponnesian War: Lysander's Spartan Armies defeated the Athenians and the war ends.
- 1134 – The name Zagreb was mentioned for the first time in the Felician Charter relating to the establishment of the Zagreb Bishopric around 1094.
- 1607 – Eighty Years' War: The Dutch fleet destroys the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar.
- 1644 – The Chongzhen Emperor, the last Emperor of Ming Dynasty China, commits suicide during a peasant rebellion led by Li Zicheng.
- 1707 – The Habsburg army is defeated by Bourbon army at Almansa (Spain) in the War of the Spanish Succession.
- 1792 – Highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier becomes the first person executed by guillotine.
- 1792 – La Marseillaise (the French national anthem) is composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle.
- 1804 – The western Georgian kingdom of Imereti accepts the suzerainty of the Russian Empire
- 1829 – Charles Fremantle arrives in HMS Challenger off the coast of modern-day Western Australia prior to declaring the Swan River Colony for the United Kingdom.
- 1846 – Thornton Affair: Open conflict begins over the disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican-American War.
- 1847 – The last survivors of the Donner Party are out of the wilderness.
- 1849 – The Governor General of Canada, Lord Elgin, signs the Rebellion Losses Bill, outraging Montreal's English population and triggering the Montreal Riots.
- 1859 – British and French engineers break ground for the Suez Canal.
- 1861 – American Civil War: The Union Army arrives in Washington, D.C.
- 1862 – American Civil War: Forces under Union Admiral David Farragut demand the surrender of the Confederate city of New Orleans, Louisiana.
- 1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Marks' Mills.
- 1898 – Spanish-American War: The United States declares war on Spain.
- 1901 – New York becomes the first U.S. state to require automobile license plates.
- 1915 – World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli begins—The invasion of the Turkish Gallipoli Peninsula by Australian, British, French and New Zealand troops begins with landings at Anzac Cove and Cape Helles.
- 1916 – Easter Rebellion: The United Kingdom declares martial law in Ireland.
- 1916 – Anzac Day is commemorated for the first time on the first anniversary of the landing at Anzac Cove.
- 1920 – At the San Remo conference, the principal Allied Powers of World War I adopt a resolution to determine the allocation of Class "A" League of Nations mandates for administration of the former Ottoman-ruled lands of the Middle East.
- 1938 – U.S. Supreme Court delivers its opinion in Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins and overturns a century of federal common law.
- 1939 – DC Comics publishes its second major superhero in Detective Comics #27; he is Batman, one of the most popular comic book superheroes of all time.
- 1943 – The Demyansk Shield for German troops in commemoration of Demyansk Pocket is instituted.
- 1944 – The United Negro College Fund is incorporated.
- 1945 – Elbe Day: United States and Soviet troops meet in Torgau along the River Elbe, cutting the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany in two, a milestone in the approaching end of World War II in Europe.
- 1945 – The Nazi occupation army surrenders and leaves Northern Italy after a general partisan insurrection by the Italian resistance movement; the puppet fascist regime dissolves and Benito Mussolini tries to escape. This day is taken as symbolic of the Liberation of Italy.
- 1945 – Fifty nations gather in San Francisco, California to begin the United Nations Conference on International Organizations.
- 1945 – The last German troops retreat from Finland's soil in Lapland, ending the Lapland War. Military acts of Second World War end in Finland.
- 1953 – Francis Crick and James D. Watson publish Molecular structure of nucleic acids: a structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid describing the double helix structure of DNA.
- 1959 – The St. Lawrence Seaway, linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, officially opens to shipping.
- 1960 – The U.S. Navy submarine USS Triton completes the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe.
- 1961 – Robert Noyce is granted a patent for an integrated circuit.
- 1965 – Teenage sniper Michael Andrew Clark kills three and wounds six others shooting from a hilltop along Highway 101 just south of Santa Maria, California.
- 1966 – The city of Tashkent is destroyed by a huge earthquake.
- 1972 – Vietnam War: Nguyen Hue Offensive – The North Vietnamese 320th Division forces 5,000 South Vietnamese troops to retreat and traps about 2,500 others northwest of Kontum.
- 1974 – Carnation Revolution: A leftist military coup in Portugal overthrows the Estado Novo regime and eventually establishes a democratic government.
- 1975 – As North Vietnamese forces close in on the South Vietnamese capital Saigon, the Australian Embassy is closed and evacuated, almost ten years to the day since the first Australian troop commitment to South Vietnam.
- 1981 – More than 100 workers are exposed to radiation during repairs of a nuclear power plant in Tsuruga, Japan.
- 1982 – Israel completes its withdrawal from the Sinai peninsula per the Camp David Accords.
- 1983 – American schoolgirl Samantha Smith is invited to visit the Soviet Union by its leader Yuri Andropov after he read her letter in which she expressed fears about nuclear war.
- 1983 – Pioneer 10 travels beyond Pluto's orbit.
- 1986 – Mswati III is crowned King of Swaziland, succeeding his father Sobhuza II.
- 1988 – In Israel, John Demjanuk is sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II.
- 2003 – The Human Genome Project comes to an end two and a half years earlier than expected.
- 2005 – The final piece of the Obelisk of Axum is returned to Ethiopia after being stolen by the invading Italian army in 1937.
- 2005 – Bulgaria and Romania sign accession treaties to join the European Union.
- 2005 – 107 die in Amagasaki rail crash in Japan.
- 2007 – Boris Yeltsin's funeral – the first to be sanctioned by the Russian Orthodox Church for a head of state since the funeral of Emperor Alexander III in 1894.
- 2011 – At least 300 people killed in deadliest tornado outbreak in the Southern United States since the 1974 Super Outbreak.
Births
- 1214 – King Louis IX of France (d. 1270)
- 1228 – King Conrad IV of Germany (d. 1254)
- 1284 – King Edward II of England (d. 1327)
- 1287 – Roger de Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, de facto ruler of England (d. 1330)
- 1502 – Georg Major, German Protestant theologian (d. 1574)
- 1599 – Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland (d. 1658)
- 1608 – Gaston, Duke of Orléans, French politician (d. 1660)
- 1621 – Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, British soldier, statesman, and dramatist (d. 1679)
- 1666 – Johann Heinrich Buttstett, German Baroque organist and composer (d. 1727)
- 1694 – Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, English architect (d. 1753)
- 1710 – James Ferguson, Scottish astronomer (d. 1776)
- 1723 – Giovanni Marco Rutini, Italian composer (d. 1797)
- 1725 – Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel, Royal Navy admiral (d. 1786)
- 1767 – Nicolas Oudinot, French marshal (d. 1847)
- 1770 – Georg Sverdrup, Norwegian philologist (d. 1850)
- 1775 – Charlotte of Spain, Spanish Infanta and queen of Portugal (d. 1830)
- 1776 – Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh (d. 1857)
- 1843 – Alice of the United Kingdom, Grand Duchess of Hesse (d. 1878)
- 1849 – Felix Klein, German mathematician (d. 1925)
- 1850 – Luise Adolpha Le Beau, German composer (d. 1927)
- 1851 – Leopoldo Alas y Ureña, a.k.a. "Clarín", Spanish novelist (d. 1901)
- 1862 – Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon, British politician (d. 1933)
- 1868 – John Bevins Moisant, American aviator (d. 1910)
- 1873 – Walter de la Mare, English poet (d. 1956)
- 1874 – Guglielmo Marconi, Italian inventor, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics (d. 1937)
- 1876 – Jacob Nicol, Canadian newspaper publisher and politician (d. 1958)
- 1897 – Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood (d. 1965)
- 1898 – Fred Haney, baseball player (d. 1977)
- 1900 – Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, Austrian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
- 1902 – Werner Heyde, German psychiatrist (d. 1964)
- 1903 – Andrey Nikolayevich Kolmogorov, Russian mathematician (d. 1987)
- 1905 – George Nepia, New Zealand rugby player (d. 1986)
- 1906 – William J. Brennan, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1997)
- 1908 – Edward R. Murrow, American journalist (d. 1965)
- 1909 – William Pereira, American architect (d. 1985)
- 1913 – Nikolaos Roussen, Greek naval officer in World War II (d. 1944)
- 1913 – Earl Bostic, American musician (d. 1965)
- 1914 – Ross Lockridge, Jr., American writer (d. 1948)
- 1917 – Ella Fitzgerald, American singer (d. 1996)
- 1918 – Gerard Henri de Vaucouleurs, French astronomer (d. 1995)
- 1918 – Astrid Varnay, Swedish-born soprano (d. 2006)
- 1920 – Jean Carmet, French actor (d. 1994)
- 1921 – Karel Appel, Dutch painter (d. 2006)
- 1923 – Melissa Hayden, American ballerina (d. 2006)
- 1923 – Albert King, American musician (d. 1992)
- 1924 – Franco Mannino, Italian composer (d. 2005)
- 1925 – Sammy Drechsel, German journalist, film director, and cabaret performer (d. 1986)
- 1925 – Kay E. Kuter, American actor (d. 2003)
- 1925 – Louis O'Neil, Canadian professor and politician
- 1926 – Gertrude Fröhlich-Sandner, Austrian politician (d. 2008)
- 1927 – Albert Uderzo, French cartoonist
- 1927 – Corín Tellado, Spanish romance novelist (d. 2009)
- 1928 – Vassar Clements, American jazz, swing, and bluegrass fiddler (d. 2005)
- 1929 – Yvette Williams, first woman New Zealander to go to Olympics
- 1930 – Paul Mazursky, American film director and writer
- 1931 – Felix Berezin, Russian mathematician (d. 1980)
- 1932 – Meadowlark Lemon, American basketball player
- 1932 – William Roache, British television actor (Coronation Street)
- 1933 – Jerry Leiber, American composer
- 1933 – Joyce Ricketts, American baseball player [AAGPBL] (d. 1992)
- 1934 – Peter McParland, Northern Irish footballer
- 1935 – April Ashley, English model
- 1938 – Ton Schulten, Dutch artist
- 1939 – Ted Kooser, American poet and US Poet Laureate
- 1940 – Jochen Borchert, German politician
- 1940 – Al Pacino, American actor
- 1941 – Bertrand Tavernier, French director, screenwriter and actor
- 1941 – Princess Muna al-Hussein, of Jordan
- 1942 – Jon Kyl, American politician, junior senator of Arizona
- 1942 – Katsuji Adachi, Japanese professional wrestler
- 1944 – Len Goodman, English dancer
- 1945 – Stu Cook, American rock bassist (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
- 1945 – Richard C. Hoagland, American conspiracy theorist
- 1945 – Björn Ulvaeus, Swedish singer and songwriter (ABBA)
- 1946 – Talia Shire, American actress
- 1946 – Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Russian politician
- 1947 – Johan Cruijff, Dutch footballer
- 1947 – Jeffrey DeMunn, American actor
- 1948 – Yu Shyi-kun, former Premier of Taiwan
- 1949 – Michael Brown, American musician and songwriter (The Left Banke)
- 1949 – James Fenton, English poet
- 1949 – Vicente Pernía, Argentine footballer
- 1949 – Dominique Strauss-Kahn, French economist, lawyer, and politician
- 1950 – Steve Ferrone, English drummer
- 1950 – Peter Jurasik, American actor
- 1951 – Ian McCartney, British Member of Parliament
- 1952 – Ketil Bjørnstad, Norwegian pianist
- 1952 – Vladislav Tretiak, Soviet ice hockey player
- 1953 – Ron Clements, American animation director
- 1955 – Américo Gallego, Argentine footballer
- 1955 – Parviz Parastui, Iranian actor
- 1955 – Christopher Tyng, American composer
- 1956 – Dominique Blanc, French actress
- 1956 – Jaroslava Schallerová, Czech actress
- 1958 – Fish, Scottish singer and lyricist (ex-Marillion)
- 1959 – Dominique Blanc, French actress
- 1959 – Tony Phillips, American baseball player
- 1960 – Bruce Redman, Australian film producer
- 1961 – Dinesh D'Souza, American author
- 1963 – Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, French actress
- 1963 – David Moyes, Scottish footballer
- 1963 – Bernd Müller, German footballer
- 1964 – Hank Azaria, American actor and voice actor
- 1964 – Andy Bell, English singer and songwriter (Erasure)
- 1965 – Eric Avery, American musician (Jane's Addiction, Deconstruction, Polar Bear)
- 1965 – Mark Bryant, American basketball player
- 1965 – Simon Fowler, English musician (Ocean Colour Scene)
- 1966 – James Stacy Barbour, American actor and singer
- 1966 – Diego Domínguez, Argentine-born Italian rugby player
- 1966 – Erik Pappas, Greek-American baseball player
- 1969 – Joe Buck, American sports broadcaster
- 1969 – Gina Torres, American actress
- 1969 – Darren Woodson, American football player
- 1969 – Renée Zellweger, American actress
- 1970 – Jason Lee, American actor
- 1970 – Jason Wiles, American actor
- 1970 – Tomoko Kawakami, Japanese voice actress (d. 2011)
- 1971 – Sara Baras, Spanish flamenco dancer
- 1973 – Fredrik Larzon, Swedish drummer (Millencolin)
- 1974 – Dean Phoenix American gay pornographic actor
- 1974 – Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou
- 1975 – Emily Bergl, British-American actress
- 1975 – Jacque Jones, American baseball player
- 1976 – Tim Duncan, American basketball player
- 1976 – Gilberto, Brazilian footballer
- 1976 – Rainer Schüttler, German tennis player
- 1976 – Kim Jong Kook, South Korean singer
- 1977 – Constantinos Christoforou, Cypriot singer
- 1977 – Ilias Kotsios, Greek footballer
- 1977 – Marguerite Moreau, American actress
- 1977 – Paavo Siljamäki, Finnish musician
- 1977 – Matthew West, American Christian singer
- 1978 – Letícia Birkheuer, Brazilian model
- 1978 – Matt Walker, British swimmer
- 1980 – Daniel MacPherson, Australian actor
- 1980 – Bruce Martin, New Zealand cricketer
- 1980 – Kazuhito Tadano, Japanese baseball player
- 1980 – Alejandro Valverde, Spanish cyclist
- 1981 – Dwone Hicks, American football player
- 1981 – Felipe Massa, Brazilian Formula One driver
- 1981 – John McFall, British sprinter
- 1981 – Anja Pärson, Swedish skier
- 1982 – Brian Barton, American baseball player
- 1982 – Monty Panesar, English cricketer
- 1982 – Marco Russo, Italian footballer
- 1983 – DeAngelo Williams, American football player
- 1983 – J.P. Howell, American baseball player
- 1983 – Joanne Peh, Singaporean actress
- 1984 – Robert Andino, American baseball player
- 1984 – Melonie Diaz, American actress
- 1984 – Andre' Woodson, American football player
- 1985 – Giedo van der Garde, Dutch racing driver
- 1985 – Jadyn Maria, Puerto Rican singer & songwriter
- 1986 – Alexei Emelin, Russian ice hockey player
- 1987 – Johann Smith, American soccer player
- 1987 – Jay Park, b-boy & musician, part of Art of Movement
- 1988 – James Sheppard, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1989 – Marie-Michèle Gagnon, Canadian alpine ski racer
- 1989 – Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, 11th Panchen Lama
- 1990 – Taylor Walker, Australian Rules football player
- 1996 – Allisyn Ashley Arm, American child actress
Deaths
- 68 – Saint Mark, the first Pope of Alexandria and the founder of Christianity in Africa
- 1077 – Géza I of Hungary (b. 1040)
- 1265 – Roger de Quincy, 2nd Earl of Winchester, English crusader
- 1295 – King Sancho IV of Castile
- 1472 – Leon Battista Alberti, Italian artist, poet, and philosopher (b. 1404)
- 1516 – John Yonge, English diplomat (b. 1467)
- 1566 – Diane de Poitiers, mistress of King Henry II of France (b. 1499)
- 1566 – Louise Labé, French poet
- 1595 – Torquato Tasso, Italian poet (b. 1544)
- 1605 – Naresuan, King of Siam (b. 1555)
- 1644 – Chongzhen Emperor, Emperor of China (b. 1611)
- 1660 – Henry Hammond, English churchman (b. 1605)
- 1690 – David Teniers the Younger, Flemish artist (b. 1610)
- 1740 – Shrimant Baji Rao Vishwanath Bhat, also known as Baji Rao I, a general and Peshwa (b. 1699)
- 1744 – Anders Celsius, Swedish astronomer (b. 1701)
- 1770 – Jean-Antoine Nollet, French abbot and physicist (b. 1700)
- 1800 – William Cowper, English poet (b. 1731)
- 1840 – Siméon Denis Poisson, French mathematician (b. 1781)
- 1875 – Trinley Gyatso, 12th Dalai Lama (b. 1857)
- 1878 – Anna Sewell, English author (b. 1820)
- 1891 – Nathaniel Woodard, English educationalist (b. 1811)
- 1892 – Henri Duveyrier, French explorer (b. 1840)
- 1906 – John Knowles Paine, American composer (b. 1839)
- 1911 – Emilio Salgari, Italian novelist (b. 1862)
- 1915 – Frederick William Seward, United States Assistant Secretary of State (b. 1830)
- 1919 – Augustus D. Juilliard, music patron (b. 1836)
- 1923 – Louis-Olivier Taillon, Canadian politician (b. 1840)
- 1928 – Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel, Russian counter-revolutionary (b. 1878)
- 1937 – Michal Drzymala, Polish rebel (b. 1857)
- 1943 – Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, Russian theatre director (b. 1858)
- 1944 – George Herriman, American comic author (Krazy Kat) (b. 1880)
- 1944 – Tony Mullane, Irish-born American baseball player (b. 1859)
- 1968 – Walter Tewksbury, American athlete (b. 1876)
- 1972 – George Sanders, British actor (b. 1906)
- 1973 – Olga Grey, Hungarian-born American silent actress (b. 1896)
- 1975 – Mike Brant, Israeli singer (b. 1947)
- 1976 – Carol Reed, English film producer and director (b. 1906)
- 1976 – Markus Reiner, Israeli scientist (b. 1886)
- 1978 – Lee Kim Lai, Singaporean police officer (b. 1960)
- 1980 – Katia Mann, wife of German writer Thomas Mann (b. 1883)
- 1982 – John Cody, American cardinal (b. 1907)
- 1983 – William S. Bowdern, American Jesuit Roman Catholic priest (b. 1897)
- 1988 – Valerie Solanas, American radical feminist (b. 1936)
- 1990 – Dexter Gordon, American saxophonist (b. 1923)
- 1992 – Yutaka Ozaki, Japanese singer-songwriter (b. 1965)
- 1995 – Andria Balanchivadze, Georgian composer (b. 1906)
- 1995 – Art Fleming, American game show host (b. 1925)
- 1995 – Ginger Rogers, American actress and dancer (b. 1911)
- 1996 – Saul Bass, American graphics designer (b. 1920)
- 1998 – Wright Morris, American writer (b. 1910)
- 1998 – Christian Mortensen, Danish-American supercentenarian (b. 1882)
- 1999 – Roger Troutman, American musician (b. 1951)
- 1999 – Larry Troutman, American musician (b. 1944)
- 1999 – Lord Killanin, Irish International Olympic Committee president (b. 1914)
- 2000 – David Merrick, American theatrical producer (b. 1911)
- 2000 – Lucien le Cam, French mathematician (b. 1924)
- 2001 – Michele Alboreto, Italian race car driver (b. 1956)
- 2002 – Indra Devi, yoga teacher (b. 1899)
- 2002 – Lisa Lopes, American rapper (TLC) (b. 1971)
- 2002 – Athanasios Papoulis, Greek-American engineer and applied mathematician (b. 1921)
- 2003 – Samson Kitur, Kenyan athlete (b. 1966)
- 2004 – Thom Gunn, English poet (b. 1929)
- 2005 – Hasil Adkins, Appalachian country, rock and roll, and blues musician (b. 1937)
- 2005 – Swami Ranganathananda, Indian monk (b. 1908)
- 2006 – Jane Jacobs, American-born Canadian urbanist (b. 1916)
- 2007 – Alan Ball, British footballer (b. 1945)
- 2007 – Arthur Milton, English footballer and cricketer (b. 1928)
- 2007 – Bobby "Boris" Pickett, American singer and songwriter (b. 1938)
- 2008 – Humphrey Lyttelton, English jazz musician and broadcaster (b. 1921)
- 2009 – Beatrice Arthur, American comedienne, actress, and singer (b. 1922)
- 2010 – Dorothy Provine, American singer, dancer, actress, and comedienne (b. 1935)
Holidays and observances
- ANZAC Day (Australia, New Zealand)
- Arbor Day (Germany)
- Army Day (North Korea)
- Christian Feast Day:
- The latest possible date for Easter Sunday, last in 1943.
- Mark the Evangelist
- Philo and Agathopodes
- Pope Anianus of Alexandria
- April 25 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- DNA Day
- Flag Day (Faroe Islands)
- Flag Day (Swaziland)
- Freedom Day (Portugal)
- Malaria Awareness Day (International)
- Military Foundation Day (North Korea)
- Red Hat Society Day
- Robigalia, celebrated on 25 Aprilis. (Roman Empire)
- Sinai's Liberation Day (Egypt)
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