Ella Jenkins, 'First Lady of Children's Folk Song', Dies at 100

Ella Jenkins, the prolific musician, educator and entertainer known as the “First Lady of Children's Folksong,” has died. Smithsonian Folkwaysthe label that released all 39 of Jenkins' albums during her lifetime confirmed the news to a statement she posted on Instagram, sharing that she died “peacefully” at her home in Chicago, Illinois. He was 100 years old.

Ella Louise Jenkins was born on August 6, 1924 in St. Louis, Missouri, although her family moved to the South Side of Chicago shortly thereafter. Despite receiving no formal musical training, it was here that Jenkins first discovered gospel music, the blues, and nursery rhymes and games, as well as being introduced to the harmonica by her Uncle Flood. In 1951 he graduated from San Francisco State University, where he studied sociology, child psychology and entertainment.

Returning to Chicago, Jenkins volunteered at various recreation centers and began writing songs for children. In 1952, she was hired as a teen program director at the YWCA and soon after found a regular gig on Chicago Public Television, which she called This is Rhythm. Jenkins became a full-time musician in 1956, touring school conventions across the US. She met folklorist Kenneth S. Goldstein, who suggested she send a demo tape to Folkways Records founder Moses Asch. the following year, Asch released Jenkins' debut album Call-and-Response: Rhythmic group song.

Jenkins released a total of 39 albums with Folkways, including 1995 Multicultural Children's Songswhich has long been the label's most popular release. Her work includes original songs, nursery rhymes, African-American folk, rhythmic songs and international songs in many languages ​​- with a strong emphasis on the call song that has become her signature. It appeared Barney & Friends, Mister Rogers' neighborhoodand Sesame Streetand, in 2004, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy.

Jenkins' song “You'll Sing a Song and I'll Sing a Song” was added to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry in 2007 and her latest album, Camp Songs with Ella Jenkins and Friendswas released in 2017. “He found this way of introducing kids to sometimes very difficult topics and material, but with a kind of gentleness,” American studies professor Gayle Wald told the a New York Times history on Jenkins' centenary. “He never lied to them. He certainly never talked down to them.”