A Conversation with Diane Richards about Her Debut Novel Ella
Diane Richards Interviewed by AALBC Staff Writer
Published: Wednesday, September 1, 2010

What inspired you to write a novel about Ella Fitzgerald? What drew you to her life and music as a subject?

Ever since I learned about Ella, I’ve felt that her story needs to be told. It’s a story of an extraordinary woman coming of age in a hostile America, struggling against discrimination and stereotyping. It’s also the story of the incredible legacies she left behind. I grew up in Milwaukee in the 1960’s and 70’s, and from where I was, it seemed like she was doing the impossible: she was famous, performing with celebrities like Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Marilyn Monroe. She was scatting with Louis Armstrong. I could identify with her; her easy grace and charm made me believe that I could become someone like her – a Black woman wearing glamorous clothes, moving in exclusive circles, and acknowledged as someone admirable and significant. I wanted that kind of life.

The novel focuses on Ella’s early years, since she came of age during one of the most difficult times in American history. She was fiercely determined to make something of herself, and I prioritized that determination as I reimagined her life. So many artists don’t make it. But this one brilliant Black woman did. She remained steadfast to her dream of becoming a performer, refusing to be defeated by the relentless, mundane demands of life.

Most people don’t realize that Ella began life as a poor Black girl. She had a rough upbringing, with an unsupportive, broken family, but willed her way into becoming a world-famous Black woman celebrated and adored for her extraordinary talent. She struggled against impossible odds to achieve unbelievable success – and she did so during one of the most racist, most hostile, most heartbreaking times in American history. Her impact cannot be underestimated. Hundreds of thousands of Black kids (including me) grew up watching her perform. She became a role model for many generations.

Ella broke into show business at a racially explosive period of American history. More importantly, she refused to be labeled. She fought back. When she was thrown into the “Reform School,” they called her “ungovernable”, and that’s probably the best label to use for her.

I live in Harlem where much of the novel is set – a few blocks from the Apollo Theater, which launched Ella’s career, and not too far from Ella Fitzgerald’s Boulevard of Dreams. It made such a difference to walk down the streets that Ella knew well, to see the buildings and the sky that Ella would have seen. Beyond that, though, I did a lot of research, reading what I could, watching documentaries, studying old photos, listening to the great Jazz music of that era. My father-in-law was a numbers runner, so he could provide a first-hand account of the profession. All of this was in my head as I sat down to write, as I tried to reimagine Ella living, dancing, and going to school in Harlem in the 1930’s – focusing less on the research and more on what drove her, and on where she wanted to be in that world.

We are all “somebody” – sometimes despite the circumstances we’re born into. I wanted to explore what it means to be a young woman with boundless ambition, whose circumstances should dictate that she has absolutely no hope at all of rising above the difficult world she lived in – and all the while not knowing that huge success is just around the corner for her. As a singer myself, I understand what it’s like to come from small town obscurity and aspire to big city fame, to go out and keep performing when nobody wants to watch you – but you just keep on doing it because you believe in yourself. You tell yourself that one day you’ll Make It – because you absolutely must believe that.

I immersed myself in Ella’s music, studied YouTube videos of her personal interviews (I love to hear her talk!), researched at the Schomburg Center in Harlem, attended the Apollo Amateur show (it doesn’t hurt that I live right where Ella grew up), studied several documentary films, read as much as I could, studied tap and swing dancing. What really surprised me and tugged at my heartstrings was reading about the New York School for Girls, the reform school upstate where Ella was sent. Reading the first-hand accounts from some of the girls was really heartbreaking.

I do! When I was sixteen, I won Dr. Bop’s Fox Singing Contest – the biggest Black Urban DJ’s contest in Milwaukee. I worked at radio stations in Milwaukee and Chicago, and then moved to New York, where I auditioned for singing jobs. I got to sing at Carnegie Hall; and I won Gil Noble’s What’s Happening Talent contest. I sang in several cabarets, and traveled to Europe in a girl’s group. I also studied with Howlett Smith, the legendary Broadway music director. He made me repeat the same bars of “Watch What Happens” and “A Foggy Day” over and over – to ensure every note was close to pitch perfect, and the delivery and timing impeccable. I became the singer for Sweet Justice. In 1983, John Hammond signed me to his Zoo York Recordz. My first (and only) album was Listen to Your Heart, on which I recorded playwright/actor Chazz Palminteri’s ballad, “I Forgot About Love.” I also had the privilege of singing backup for Whitney Houston.

When the vicious proctors at the New York School for Girls imprison Ella in a basement, with unimaginable terrible threats ahead of her, she’s beyond all hope. She reaches inside herself and, there in the dark, refuses to give in to the terror that threatens to destroy her. She finds her voice. She decides that no force outside herself will defeat her. It’s a moment that’s symbolic not only of her struggles, but also of what many people – no matter their color, creed or sex – have gone through over the years.

True talent like Ella’s can transcend racism. Can transcend the hopelessness and mistrust between people who look or speak differently. Ella’s rise to fame was a spectacular long shot. But her story is familiar to me in the way it’s familiar to many Black performers. Ralph Cooper, the emcee who discovered Ella at the Apollo’s Amateur Night, said it best in his memoir: “Black artists, in the pursuit of their profession, unlike their white counterparts, were subjected to insults, deprivation, and unbelievable hardship. Their only companion, support, and confidant was their passionate dedication to their respective talents.” Ella had that passionate dedication. She discovered what she couldn’t live without. She found the will, the strength, and the determination to surmount the obstacles in her way. No matter how dire our circumstances, we need hope, love, faith, belief. For Ella, that was music.

I hope this novel reveals the kind of “passionate dedication” that it takes to create an Ella Fitzgerald. She’s gone now, so we can’t know what it’s like to be her – to know how she felt, what she really wanted, what it was like to overcome the incredible obstacles in her path. But we can imagine. We can proclaim that achieving our dreams is not only possible but necessary. Our dreams are critical to our existence and our gateway to hope.