Ella Fitzgerald before she was famous

She sang for tips. Then she won the Apollo.

The nobody years

1917 Born in Newport News
Newport News, Virginia, 1917. A girl is born to unmarried parents in a Virginia port city, long before anyone has heard her voice. Nothing here marks her out yet.
Was born in Newport News, Virginia, to unmarried parents. Source
1932 Mother dies, age fifteen
She's fifteen when her mother is hurt in a car accident, and then dies from those injuries. The one steady thing in her life is gone.
Her mother died from injuries suffered in a car accident when Ella was fifteen. Source
1933-1934 Lookout for numbers runner
She lands in Harlem with an aunt, and school stops mattering. She takes work as a lookout for a bordello, and for a numbers runner with Mafia ties.
Moved to Harlem to live with an aunt, skipped school and worked as a lookout for a bordello and for a Mafia-linked numbers runner. Source
1933-1934 Sent to state reformatory
The truancy catches up with her. Authorities place her in the Colored Orphan Asylum in Riverdale, then transfer her to the New York Training School for Girls, a state reformatory up in Hudson.
When authorities intervened over her truancy, she was placed in the Colored Orphan Asylum in Riverdale, then transferred to the New York Training School for Girls, a state reformatory in Hudson, New York. Source
1933-1934 Singing streets for tips
Before any booking, before any stage, she sings on Harlem sidewalks for whatever coins people drop. That's part of how she eats.
Survived partly by singing on Harlem streets for tips before she had any professional booking. Source
November 21, 1934 Apollo Amateur Night winner
November 21st, 1934. She's seventeen, signed up for Amateur Night at the Apollo to dance, but the Edwards Sisters go on first and their dancing rattles her. She sings instead, and she wins first prize.
Entered Apollo Theater's Amateur Night at seventeen meaning to dance, but lost her nerve after watching the Edwards Sisters dance duo perform and sang instead, winning first prize. Source
1935 Trial gig at Yale
Bandleader Chick Webb isn't sold. He reportedly calls her a diamond in the rough, gawky and unkempt, and only agrees to a trial performance at Yale University after others push him.
Bandleader Chick Webb was reluctant to sign her, reportedly calling her 'a diamond in the rough' because she was gawky and unkempt, and only agreed after being persuaded to give her a trial performance at Yale University. Source