Google pays tribute to jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald with doodle

Google on Thursday paid tribute to jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald, who many call the "First Lady of Song," with one of its patented doodles for what would have been her 96th birthday.

Visitors to Google's home page (www.google.com) were greeted with a doodle of Fitzgerald singing, with the word "Google" in the background. As in the past, clicking on the doodle will take the visitor to a Search Results page for "Ella Fitzgerald." Fitzgerald was the most popular female jazz singer in the United States, winning 13 Grammy awards and selling over 40 million albums. "Her voice was flexible, wide-ranging, accurate and ageless. She could sing sultry ballads, sweet jazz and imitate every instrument in an orchestra. She worked with all the jazz greats, from Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Nat King Cole, to Frank Sinatra, Dizzy Gillespie and Benny Goodman. (Or rather, some might say all the jazz greats had the pleasure of working with Ella)," her website said. Fitzgerald was born April 25, 1917 in Newport News, Va. She made her first recording in 1936. Fitzgerald had a deep concern for child welfare, making donations to organizations for disadvantaged youths. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan gave her the National Medal of Arts. Diabetes and other health problems slowed her down and she died on June 15, 1996. — LBG, GMA News