Fitzgerald won Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female for 'Digital III At Montreux' on March 24, 1982.
On March 24, 1982, Ella Fitzgerald won the GRAMMY Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female for Digital III At Montreux, a live recording captured at the renowned Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.
The Montreux Jazz Festival had, by this point, become one of the premier international showcases for jazz artistry, and Fitzgerald's frequent appearances there throughout the 1970s and 1980s were highlights of the festival's history. This particular recording utilized then-cutting-edge digital recording technology, capturing the clarity and dynamism of her live performance for a new generation of audiophiles and jazz listeners.
This award continued Fitzgerald's remarkable run of consecutive GRAMMY recognitions in the early 1980s, further cementing her reputation as the most consistently honored vocalist in the history of the awards. Her international touring during this period, including regular appearances across Europe, helped solidify jazz's global reach and Fitzgerald's own status as an internationally beloved ambassador for American music. Even as she entered her mid-sixties, she continued to command the same level of vocal precision, warmth, and improvisatory brilliance that had defined her entire career, delighting both longtime fans and new audiences discovering her artistry through live recordings such as this one.