At 15 Ella Fitzgerald won a talent contest at the Apollo Theatre, Harlem. Within months she was a star. This film uses never-before-seen images and unheard interviews to bring Ella Fitzgerald to life and to tell the story of her music: a black woman who made her career in the face of horrifying racism. | Ella Fitzgerald

Today marks 100 years since the birth of Ella Fitzgerald. ‘Lady Ella’ burst onto the Harlem music scene in the mid-1930s after winning a talent contest at the Apollo Theater. She was a 15-year-old street performer living rough at the time. She went on to become one of America’s most highly acclaimed music stars and changed the jazz world forever | The Guardian

At 15 Ella Fitzgerald won a talent contest at the Apollo Theatre, Harlem. Within months she was a star. This film uses never-before-seen images and unheard interviews to bring Ella Fitzgerald to life and to tell the story of her music: a black woman who made her career in the face of horrifying racism. | Ella Fitzgerald