My father is a jazz musician — and my aunt Ethel Waters was a famous jazz singer — and every summer I would go on tour with my father wherever he was. I would be in the hotel room at night, because he’d be at work at the jazz clubs, and I would go through all of his albums. There was nothing but jazz albums, and the only thing that I could find that I really liked was Ella Fitzgerald. I only liked the female singers, and Ella Fitzgerald stuck out. I had to be eight or nine years old, and I just remember loving her and playing the records every night when we were on the road.
Her first song that I remember is “A-Tisket, A-Tasket.” That was one of my favorites. And I used to like “One For My Baby.” I loved all of her swing stuff, all of the uptempo stuff. I used to love how, even when she was singing a sad song, she sounded like she was smiling. She didn’t have that gospel voice, and she wasn’t pop. It was just this very pleasant voice that sounded happy. It always used to uplift me, whenever I would play her stuff.
When I look back on when I got my own start, especially when “Gypsy Woman” came out, and where I was getting influence from — it was her. Because I was not a gospel singer, I was not an R&B singer, but I was a jazz singer. I think the whole tonation and the melodies that I wrote, and that I still write, come from jazz. I never intentionally tried to channel her or anything, but the melody of “Gypsy Woman” is a jazz melody, and I think I’m holding some of the notes how she would hold it. It’s not like a Chaka Khan voice, it’s not really big, and it’s not really a pop voice. The first word that comes to me is “emoting.” I think the way she emotes through a song, I kind of hear me doing the same thing. It’s not a conscious thing, but I’m sure listening to her for all of those hours, all of those years, there was something in there that resonated with me. Whatever was flowing through her is flowing through me too.
As I’ve gotten older and learned more about her, it’s kind of changed the way I think about her. Because she went through a lot of pain, and for her to sing through that and sound happy, it gives me another perspective on her ability to sing. It makes her songs even more meaningful, to know what she was going through, and just how much she loved singing and being on the road. I’ve heard stories about how, as she was getting older, they had to cut off her legs and still she would wake up and say, “What time is it? It’s time to get on the road, time to sing!” I kind of compare her life with mine — am I going to sing ‘til the end?
For me, it all goes back to having that smile, singing to the point where you can connect with people through your voice. I think singing through the pain connects with people. I think about that when I’m writing, for sure, and I really do think about that all the time when I’m singing. I always think in the studio to have that smile on my face. When I’m in the studio, I’ll go back and re-sing the whole song if it didn’t sound like I had a smile in my voice. Unconsciously, she’s where that came from.
I think we should all go back and listen to some more Ella.
As told to Annie Fell.
