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Diane Richards

Biography

Diane Richards

Diane Richards is the Executive Director of the Harlem Writers Guild and a writer, playwright and music producer. She is also a singer who cut her own album in the 1980s and performed backup for Whitney Houston. Like Ella, Diane won a talent competition that launched her career --- singing "Watch What Happens," a song made famous by Ella Fitzgerald. She lives in New York City.

Diane Richards

Books by Diane Richards

Ella
by Diane Richards - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction

When Ella Fitzgerald’s mother dies at the height of the Depression, the 15-year-old goes to work for the mob to support herself and her family. When the law finally catches up, the “ungovernable” adolescent is incarcerated in the New York Training School for Girls in upstate New York --- a wicked prison infamous for its harsh treatment of inmates, especially Black ones. Determined to be free, Ella escapes and makes her way back to Harlem, where she is forced to dance for pennies on the street. Looking for a break into show business, Ella draws straws to appear at the Apollo Theater’s Amateur Night. Rather than perform a dance routine directly after “The World Famous Edwards Sisters” number, the homeless Ella risks everything when she decides to sing Judy instead. Four years later, at barely 21, Ella Fitzgerald has become the bestselling female vocalist in America.