Known as “the first lady of children’s music,” Ella Jenkins performed on all seven continents.Courtesy of the artist — Photo from the Ella Jenkins Website.
You may have grown up hearing one of Ella Jenkins’ signature tunes, like “You’ll Sing a Song and I’ll Sing A Song.” And you may have then played her music for your own children. Jenkins, who is known as “the first lady of children’s music,” died on Saturday, November 9th, 2024 at her home in Lincoln Park, Chicago. She was 100 years old.
“She forged through to her 100th birthday. There were so many people around her, and she was so excited,” Orman said. “She was just invigorated and empowered by the music.” (Chicago Sun Times Obit)
Children’s musician Ella Jenkins, who encouraged millions of kids to sing along with her in a career that spanned 70 years, has died. Her death was confirmed by John Smith, associate director of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, her longtime record label. She recorded 39 albums for Folkways, according to a statement from the label.
Did you feed my cow? Was one of the first songs I heard, and subsequently learned as a preschool teacher. It was a great way to increase student’s language skills, to get them to talk, to listen so they could respond at the right time and to get to know each other.
Celebrated as the first lady of children’s music, I thought several of the news channels of the day did a very poor job of recognizing this 100-year-old singer/songwriter superstar, who led so many of us in teaching children the rhythms of life. Here, I want to offer my tribute to Ella Jenkins, whose music shaped my teaching career.
Ella talked about the lower tone of her voice and how she talks to children like she would talk to anyone. Her call and response helps children participate without embarrassment of being the solo speaker. “Jambo” was the Swahili song my classes sang in the late 80’s and early 90’s. The theme is learning the names of African animals.
She laid the groundwork for the entire field of children’s music. She inspired me along with generations of other music leaders to follow her and encourage children in music, language and literacy. Jenkins was inspired by a lot of things — the folk tradition, the civil rights movement, the church. And she shared that inspiration with us all.
Jenkins was a leading performer of folk and children’s music. “Her album, Multicultural Children’s Songs (1995), has long been the most popular Smithsonian Folkways release.” She appeared on numerous children’s television programs, including Sesame Street and Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.
According to culture writer Mark Guarino, “across her 67-year career, Jenkins firmly established the genre of children’s music as a serious endeavor — not just for artists to pursue but also for the recording industry to embrace and promote.” (From Wikipedia)
A lot of her songs had a signature style of call and response: “I say something, and you say it back to me.” The idea came to her from a kind of unexpected source of Cab Calloway.
The mid-20th-century arrival of the baby boomers provided a growing market for children’s music as its own genre. Ella Jenkins was joined by Woody Gurthrie and Pete Seeger in a cadre of politically progressive and socially conscious performers who aimed albums to baby boomers and their children. Ella’s groundbreaking career in children’s music was rooted in the fight for equality.
Portrait of Ella by Alison Green for the Chicago Reader’s Chicagoans of the Year (2014)
Ella Jenkins was born in St. Louis, Missouri on August 6th, 1924. Her family moved to Chicago. Ella grew up on the city’s South Side, where one of the hottest acts in the clubs at the time was Cab Calloway. And in his famous song “Minnie the Moocher,” the “Hi-dee hi-dee hi-dee hi” section is a call-and-response.
“Then you’d say it back — ‘ho-dee ho-dee ho-dee ho’,” Jenkins explained to NPR. “So I started doing not only with his songs — I thought I would make up few songs myself. Children can learn very easily by imitating, following the leader and then pretty soon be able to teach it themselves.”
The family moved frequently to get to a more “Uptown” neighborhood. Her family life provided the basis for her musical education, as each move allowed her to experience rhythms, rhymes and games of the new neighborhood which could be different even if only a few blocks apart.
She was fascinated by her Uncle Flood’s harmonica playing and she would tease out rhythms on oatmeal boxes, wastebaskets, and cooking pots as she say along side him.
“I was naturally rhythmic,” she stated, “and would try to copy my uncle’s sounds by whistling. But my mother did not like it, saying good women and young girls did not whistle.”
Yet it was her mother who took her to the music store to purchase her first harmonica. Her brother taught her songs he learned at summer camps.
After graduating college in San Francisco, Jenkins returned to Chicago and worked in community centers and for the YWCA where she began to create songs for children. Performing on the streets led to an appearance in 1956 on the early children’s television program Totem Club, on WTTW Channel 11, which led to This is Rhythm, her own full segment on the show. Odetta and Big Bill Broonzy made guest appearances.
Her first recording, Call and Response, released in 1957 on Moses Asch’s Folkways Records (now Smithsonian Folkways Recordings) has never been out of print and remains a bestseller. Her discography currently lists 40 releases.
Since her early guest appearances, Jenkins has been self-employed as a full-time musician, traveling the world to gather global sounds and stories to share in homes and classrooms everywhere. Her sharing unites people during a time of division. Ella Jenkins celebrated every culture.
“You can travel around the world with Ella Jenkins through her songs,” says Cathy Fink, a Grammy-winning children’s musician and a friend of Jenkins.
Jenkin’s re-popularization of game songs from her youth like “Miss Mary Mack” and “One Potato, Two Potato” couples basic chants and movement rescued from the folklore of American play, game songs, and ring chants. Her original songs, like “Stop and Go” and “Play Your Instruments,” are direct results of her absorption of those traditions.
“Ella traveled the world and performed all over the world,” Fink says. “And as she did, she would learn from the people that she was with. She would learn words, or she would learn a song from another country. The first thing she’d say to a taxi driver is, ‘What’s your name and where are you from?‘ And then she’ll say, ‘Well, tell me about your country.‘ She sees meeting each person as an opportunity to make a friend and learn something.”
And what Ella Jenkins learned, she taught to generations of parents, teachers and children.
ella_jenkins_by_bernadelle_richter
Awards:
In 1990 Jenkins received the Pioneer in Early Television Citation from the National Museum of American History.
Jenkins is the recipient of lifetime achievement awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (1999)
Jenkins received the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Award(2004).
In 2004, she received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 2009 she received a United States Artists Fellowship.
Jenkins is one of only 12 persons to be recognized as a Legacy Honoree of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife & Cultural Heritage.
You’ll Sing a Song and I’ll Sing a Song is one of Ella Jenkins’ most celebrated albums for young listeners. It has nurtured the minds of multiple generations of children, introducing them to basic musical building blocks while fostering a spirit of togetherness and inclusivity. The title track, written by Jenkins, was added to the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress in 2007. It has also been recorded by countless other musicians, including Raffi. You’ll Sing a Song and I’ll Sing a Song is as much a classic of 20th-century folk music as it is a foundational text of early childhood music education, as it establishes participatory and democratic frameworks with which children and adults alike can explore their own creative impulses.
Originally released in 1964, Counting Games and Rhythms for Little Ones builds on Ella Jenkins’ early recordings of supplementary classroom materials by showcasing the connections between basic math concepts and rhythm. This collection exemplifies Ella’s renowned ability to teach children basic concepts through songs and games and to provide resources for teachers. Skills such as memory, coordination, and vocal expression are all exercised in these simple, enjoyable activity songs. Here, the children from Lake Meadows Nursery School join Ella on classic counting songs including “One Potato, Two Potato,” “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe,” and “Eight Clay Pigeons.”
Play Your Instruments and Make a Pretty Sound encourages music-making out of anything, from rhythm sticks to cowbells and maracas. The album’s ten songs include “Follow the Leader,” “Let’s Listen to the Band,” and “Harmonica Happiness.” This fun, interactive album—as well as the rest of Ella Jenkins’ extensive, award-winning discography of children’s music— encourages children to listen, collaborate, and play.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
