In reply to Onyx.

I'm not sure if Beyonce is more famous than Ella Fitzgerald. After all, Ella has been dead for 17 years and people are still talking about her. Remember that Ella was a national spokesperson (print, television) for Memorex cassette tapes in 1972, the first Black Female ever to be featured in speaking, national campaigns. "Is it live or is it Memorex" became one of the most famous ad campaigns of all time, thanks to Ella. Also, Ella didn't live during the era of everyone knows everything about anyone famous. She never became a "Nostalgia Act", her awards are legion, and her recordings, along with Frank Sinatra created "American Popular Song" as we know it. I have read that she has realistically actually sold over 500 million recordings, and that was years ago. The 40 million used is a figure from NARAS in 1969. In Manhattan Tower Records in 1996 she had six entire bins of CD's for sale. Not six rows, six bins. She still sells and her art endures. Beyonce is talented, but she is not and never will be an Ella Fitzgerald. Ella was playing arenas into her 70's. The album released for her 75th Birthday charted on the Jazz charts, of course, but also on the Pop charts spending well over a year in the Top 100. She was the best and Internationally perhaps more famous than Frank Sinatra. Certainly the most universally admired singer of all time.