Edward Ellington was born on April 29th, 1899 in Washington D.C. He was first interested in music when he heard his mother play the piano and cried because he thought it was so beautiful.

Edward started to take piano lessons, and was soon very good at playing the piano. He was also very polite, so his music teacher and friends started calling him "duke", which is someone who is very fancy and kind. That's where his nickname came from.

As he got older, Duke fell in love and married a woman named Edna. Soon after they were married, they had a child who they named Mercer.

Dukes first real performance was at a fancy restaurant in New York City. He was 24 years old and played jazz for many people with five of his friends.

Until Duke was 75 years old he played music for thousands of loving fans. He was a band leader, pianist, and song writer, and his career lasted for over 50 years. He sadly passed away in 1974 due to lung cancer and a virus called Pneumonia.

Edward "Duke" Ellington was an amazing jazz musician who wrote and performed over 3,000 original songs for people to listen to and enjoy. He also paved the way for many more African American artists to succeed.

Duke Ellington

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http://dukeellington.com/ellingtonbio.html

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Ellington