29 Facts About Ella Jenkins

Ella Louise Jenkins was an American singer-songwriter and centenarian.

Ella Jenkins appeared on numerous children's television programs and in 2004, she received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Ella Jenkins grew up in predominantly lower-middle-class neighborhoods in the south side of Chicago.

Ella Jenkins received no formal musical training, and developed an appreciation for music while growing up in a family of Christian Scientists with eclectic musical tastes.

Ella Jenkins enjoyed tap dancing lessons at the local theater and was able to go to the Regal Theater to see such performers as Cab Calloway, Count Basie, and Peg Leg Bates.

Ella Jenkins then worked at the Wrigley Company and at the University of Chicago in a clerical position.

Ella Jenkins graduated from Woodrow Wilson in 1947 with an associate's degree.

Ella Jenkins went on to attend Roosevelt University for a year before transferring to San Francisco State University, where she picked up Yiddish and Hebrew songs from her Jewish residence hall neighbors.

On November 9,2024, Ella Jenkins died at an assisted living facility in Chicago; she was 100.

In Chicago, Ella Jenkins began writing songs for children while volunteering in recreation centers and playing at Chicago folk clubs.

Ella Jenkins subsequently was hired as a Teenage Program Director for the YWCA in 1952.

Ella Jenkins was offered a regular job as the host of a Thursday afternoon program on the channel, which she titled This is Rhythm.

Ella Jenkins invited guests from diverse cultures, including Odetta and Big Bill Broonzy, to share their music's rhythms on her show.

In 1956, Ella Jenkins decided to give herself five years to try working as a full-time musician.

Later that year, Jenkins met American folklorist, educator and record producer Kenneth S Goldstein at the Gate of Horn folk music club in Chicago.

In 1962, Ella Jenkins was offered the opportunity to work for the School Assembly Service, which developed educational programs for schools.

Ella Jenkins developed "Adventures in Rhythm", a program aimed at teenagers, which she took on the road and put on at school assemblies until September 1963.

The 1960s marked the beginning of her business relationship with Bernadelle Richter, whom she met after Richter hired Ella Jenkins to perform at the American Youth Hostel folk weekend.

Richter "handled the business" of Ella Jenkins' career, leaving her to focus on compositions and performances.

Ella Jenkins was holding music workshops for children's educators by the early 1970s.

Ella Jenkins began to receive wider attention in the early 1980s, after appearing as a guest on Sesame Street and being subsequently invited to appear on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

Ella Jenkins performed at America's Reunion on the Mall in 1993, America's Millennium Celebration in 2000, and at Smithsonian's 150th Birthday Party on the Mall in Washington, DC in 1996.

Ella Jenkins was a performer at the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, Illinois for 40 years.

Folkways Records and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings released 39 albums by Ella Jenkins, including the popular 1966 album You'll Sing a Song and I'll Sing a Song and the 1995 album Multicultural Children's Songs.

Ella Jenkins' repertoire included nursery rhymes, holiday songs, bilingual songs, international songs, rhythmic chants, and original songs.

Ella Jenkins's recordings received two Grammy Award nominations in the category of Best Musical Album for Children, and in 2004, she was recognized with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Ella Jenkins saw children as genuine, down to earth people who should be listened to and recognized as having much to offer.

Ella Jenkins has been cited as an influence of later children's musicians, such as Dan Zanes.

Ella Jenkins has used music as a tool to bridge and unite people across the world, especially in highly divisive times of the US Civil Rights era.