Ella: The Life and Times of Ella Fitzgerald

At 69, Ella Fitzgerald's singing is as clear, light and pure as ever, with a large range, impeccable intonation and dazzling flexibility. Almost since her first appearance as an amateur at the Harlem Opera House in 1934, she has been an outstanding singer of popular songs. This once-over-lightly biography tells the story of the life and times of ""a real skinny kid'' from Yonkers who encountered prejudice, but who soon became preeminent throughout the world as a jazz singer. As Andre Previn has said, ``She is unique and inimitable, simply the best.'' The author, an English musician and writer, gets his facts right most of the time but is mistaken in thinking Yonkers is ``just across the Hudson River from the Bronx.'' Photos. (July)