Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 - June 15, 1996) was an American jazz vocalist. Often referred to as the First Lady of Song, the Queen of Jazz and Lady Ella, 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 60 year recording career, she sold 40 million copies of her 70 plus albums, won 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. Plagued by health problems, Fitzgerald made her last recording in 1991 and her last public performances in 1993. In 1996, tired of being in the hospital, she wished to spend her last days at home. Confined to a wheelchair, she spent her final days in her backyard of her Beverly Hills mansion. On her last day, she was wheeled outside one last time, and sat there for about an hour. When she was taken back in, she looked up with a soft smile on her face and said, "I'm ready to go now." She died in her home on June 15, 1996 at the age of 79. Photographed by Carl Van Vechten, January 19, 1940.