Singer-songwriter Ella Jenkins, a Chicago-native who had delighted children with her incredible music for decades, has passed away at the age of 100, her publicist announced. LeeAnn Trotter looks back at her remarkable legacy.
Singer-songwriter Ella Jenkins, a Chicago-native who had delighted children with her incredible music for decades, has passed away at the age of 100, her publicist announced.
Jenkins inspired generations of children through her unique performance style, leaving behind an incredible legacy forged in a musical career that spanned more than 70 years.
According to her publicist, Jenkins passed away Saturday night at a North Side residential facility.
Jenkins became renowned as the “First Lady of Children's Music.” Jenkins made the call and response technique popular as a way to encourage group singing and help develop children's memory and musical skills.
She said she was inspired by listening to Cab Callaway as a kid.
Her first recording, “Call and Response rhythmic group singing,” was released in 1957. Since then, Jenkins wrote and recorded hundreds of children's songs, including classics like “You Sing a Song, I'll Sing a Song,” and “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.”
Jenkins was born in St. Louis, but when she was very young her family moved to Chicago's South Side.
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Before her career as a children's folk singer, Jenkins nurtured her talent of singing with kids while studying child psychology at San Francisco State University and also working with children back home at the YWCA. She performed at folk clubs in Chicago and landed a job hosting a program on WTTW called the Totem Club.
She was also a frequent contributor to “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” and “Sesame Street.” Despite having no formal training, Jenkins played the harmonica, the ukulele, the organ and a variety of percussion instruments. She was also a composer, honored in 2004 by the Recording Academy with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
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In 2005, she was nominated for two Grammys for “Sharing Cultures with Ella Jenkins” and “Ella Jenkins and a Union of Friends Pulling Together.”
