The First Lady of Jazz | |
---|---|
Year | 1996 |
Medium | Bronze |
Subject | Ella Fitzgerald |
Location | Yonkers, New York, U.S. |
40°56′6.7″N73°54′9.2″W / 40.935194°N 73.902556°W |
The First Lady of Jazz is a statue of Ella Fitzgerald situated outside the Yonkers Metro-North station in the city of Yonkers in Westchester County, New York, United States. It was unveiled in October 1996; Fitzgerald had died in June 1996 at the age of 79. [1]
The statue is cast in bronze and stands on a two tier granite pedestal. It is 5 feet 10 in height. [1] The statue is life size and depicts Fitzgerald singing with open arms and "snapping fingers" wearing a dress and heels. [2] It is situated on Trolley Barn Plaza at the corner of Buena Vista Avenue and Main Street in Yonkers. [1]
It was sculpted by Vinnie Bagwell. It was Bagwell's first commissioned piece of public art, and became her ninth completed sculpture. [1] The work was commissioned by the Bureau of Community Development and the Office of Downtown and Waterfront Development of Yonkers and was funded by a Federal grant of $25,000. [1]
Fitzgerald grew up in Yonkers and attended Public School 18 and Benjamin Franklin Junior High School. Her family lived on School Street and Park Hill Avenue. [1]
The statue is part of Westchester County's African-American Heritage Trail. [3]
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Westchester County is a county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York, bordering the Long Island Sound to its east and the Hudson River on its west. The county is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population of 1,004,456, its highest decennial count ever and an increase of 55,344 (5.8%) from the 949,113 counted in 2010. Westchester covers an area of 450 square miles (1,200 km2), consisting of six cities, 19 towns, and 23 villages. Established in 1683, Westchester was named after the city of Chester, England. The county seat is the city of White Plains, while the most populous municipality in the county is the city of Yonkers, with 211,569 residents per the 2020 census. The county is part of the Hudson Valley region of the state.
Ella Jane Fitzgerald was an American singer, songwriter and composer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, intonation, absolute pitch, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing.
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