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Joan Wickersham

A valentine to Ella

Her singing makes you believe love makes sense

By Joan Wickersham

 |   

  February 10, 2012

There may have been a St. Valentine among the martyrs of ancient Rome, but to my mind the patron saint of Valentine’s Day is Ella Fitzgerald. The first time I heard Ella singing I was in college, going from door to door conducting some survey for a sociology class. In one of the dorm rooms, music was playing: a woman’s voice that was so smooth, so smart, that I interrupted the sociological question-and-answer session to ask, ”What is this?” A Valentine to Ella

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