Distraught over her mother's death, young Ella stopped attending school and  found some work as a lookout for a whorehouse. She was eventually sent to a reformatory where she was mentally and physically abused. Thanks to her singing talent, which she regularly displayed at the legendary Apollo theater, Fitzgerald was "paroled" by the state and handed over to musician Chick Webb, who brought Ella into his Savoy Ballroom band.

Distraught over her mother's death, young Ella stopped attending school and  found some work as a lookout for a whorehouse. She was eventually sent to a reformatory where she was mentally and physically abused. Thanks to her singing talent, which she regularly displayed at the legendary Apollo theater, Fitzgerald was "paroled" by the state and handed over to musician Chick Webb, who brought Ella into his Savoy Ballroom band.