Biography
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Born
22 June 1919
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Born In
South Carolina, United States
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Died
16 February 2004 (aged 84)
Ella Mae Johnson (June 22, 1919 - February 16, 2004) was an American jazz and rhythm and blues vocalist.
Born in Darlington, South Carolina, she joined her brother Buddy Johnson in New York as a teenager, where he was leading a popular band at the Savoy Ballroom. Her singing drew comparisons to Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday.
Johnson scored her first hit with "Please, Mr. Johnson" in 1940. Subsequent hits included "Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball?", "When My Man Comes Home" and "Hittin' On Me". Her popular 1945 recording of "Since I Fell For You", composed by her brother, led to its eventual establishment as a jazz standard.
She continued to perform with Buddy into the 1960s. She died in New York.
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