Alexander Graham Bell vs Ella Fitzgerald
Two music prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Alexander Graham Bell | Ella Fitzgerald | |
| Field | Music | Music |
| Sub-field | Electronic | Composer |
| Born | 1847 | 1917 |
| Died | 1922 | 1996 |
| Country of birth | SCT | United States |
| Star sign | - | Taurus |
Who they are
Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell was born on March 3, 1847, in Edinburgh, Scotland, into a family professionally and personally obsessed with the human voice. His grandfather Alexander Bell was a noted speech teacher and actor. His father Melville Bell developed a system called Visible Speech — a phonetic alphabet for teaching deaf people to speak, in which symbols represented the physical positions of the mouth, throat, and tongue during sound production. His mother Eliza Grace Symonds Bell was herself almost completely deaf, and Bell learned from childhood to speak very close to her skull so she…
Full biography of Alexander Graham Bell →
Ella Fitzgerald
On the night of November 21, 1934, a seventeen-year-old girl walked onto the stage of the Apollo Theater in Harlem for Amateur Night and froze. She had entered intending to dance — she was a known dancer among her friends in Yonkers — but when she looked out at the audience, something failed. She stood there, in a dress borrowed from a friend, in shoes that didn't fit, before an audience that was already restless. Then she opened her mouth and sang. The audience went quiet. She won first place. The bandleader Chick Webb heard…
Full biography of Ella Fitzgerald →
What they share
- Both are held here under Music.
- Their lifetimes overlap.
Where they part
- Born in different countries: SCT and United States.
- 70 years separate their births (1847 and 1917).
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Alexander Graham Bell or Ella Fitzgerald?
- Alexander Graham Bell. Alexander Graham Bell was born in 1847, Ella Fitzgerald in 1917.
- What field is each of them in?
- Alexander Graham Bell is filed under Music (Electronic). Ella Fitzgerald is filed under Music (Composer).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.