- Patti Austin, Natalie Cole, Quincy Jones, Cyndi Lauper, Nancy Wilson and Others Headline Birthday Salute to Ella Fitzgerald - For more than half a century, Ella Fitzgerald packed houses around the world with her peerless delivery of ballads, pop standards and straight-ahead jazz. With her incomparable voice and astonishing technique, the beloved "First Lady of Song" consistently ranked among the top female jazz artists in the United States, garnering 13 Grammy Awards and selling more than 40 million albums. It would be impossible to overestimate her influence on the next generation of musicians and singers. Many of them - including Patti Austin, Natalie Cole, Quincy Jones, Cyndi Lauper, Ruben Studdard and Nancy Wilson, to name a few - are commemorating what would have been Ella's 90th birthday (April 25, 2007) with an all-star tribute concert on April 29 at the University of Southern California's Galen Center. GREAT PERFORMANCES takes public television viewers to this once-in-a-lifetime event when "We Love Ella! A Tribute to the First Lady of Song" airs Wednesday, June 6, 2007, 9:00-10:30 p.m. ET on PBS. Also slated to perform are George Duke, Dave Koz, Take 6, The USC Thornton Symphony and Jazz Orchestra, and Wynnona, with others to be announced. The broadcast is part of a widespread celebration that includes the June 5 release of Verveâs We All Love Ella: Celebrating the First Lady of Song, a star-studded tribute produced by Phil Ramone, featuring many of the artists appearing at the USC concert. Underwriters: UBS, National Endowment for the Arts, Public Television Viewers, PBS and Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
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