Chicago’s Ella Jenkins, ‘First Lady of Children’s Music,’ dies at age 100

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra family mourns the passing of Ella Jenkins, known worldwide as “The First Lady of Children’s Music.” The Chicago-based artist died Saturday at a North Side assisted-living center, just three months after marking her 100th birthday on Aug. 6. 

Surrounded by friends and family, she listened to some of her favorite music on Saturday. “She forged through to her 100th birthday; there were so many people around her, and she was so excited,” said Lynn Orman, her publicist, to the Sun-Times. “She was just invigorated and empowered by the music.”

Since 1986, Ms. Jenkins had performed several times at Orchestra Hall and Symphony Center, including CSO Family Matinees and the CSO’s first-ever Day of Music on Oct. 5, 1997.

Despite not having any formal music training, Ms. Jenkins went on to become a composer, vocalist and instrumentalist, including the ukulele, pipe organ, harmonica and percussion.

She is credited with establishing the groundwork for the children’s music genre and for inspiring future generations of children’s music artists. “There is no one who has done more for young people in American musical history than Ella Jenkins,” the children’s musician Dan Zanes once said.

"The term ’children’s music’ so often refers to songs that are particular to their experiences," Zanes said. "Ella was a master of these, but like [folk-blues artist] Lead Belly, she also gave children songs that were a window to the world outside. Unions, multiculturalism, African American history, spirituality. it was all there, natural and inviting.”

Over her seven-decade career, Ms. Jenkins received many honors, including the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004, and in 2017, the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts for a lifetime of dedication to folk music or traditional arts. She is one of only 12 persons to be recognized as a Legacy Honoree of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife & Cultural Heritage.

In 2015, the City of Chicago honored her with the dedication of Ella Jenkins Park, 333 W. Wisconsin, near Sedgwick. Earlier this year, she was saluted with the publication of the children’s picture book, A Life of Song: The Story of Ella Jenkins, written by Ty-Juana Taylor.

After signing with Folkways Records in 1957, Ms. Jenkins went on to release nearly 40 studio albums for that label and its successor, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Her most recent disc, “Camp Songs,” came out in 2017. She was the label’s best-selling artist, and two of her albums, “You’ll Sing a Song and I’ll Sing a Song” (1966) and “Multicultural Children’s Songs” (1995), were its most popular releases.

Born in St. Louis, she grew up on Chicago’s South Side, including a residence near Washington Park. After receiving an associate degree at the city’s Woodrow Wilson Junior College, she left for California. In 1951, she earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from San Francisco State University.

After returning to Chicago, she undertook volunteer and paid positions at recreation centers and youth camps, where she led singing sessions. During this time, she started writing songs for children. That work led to an appearance on a public television program called “The Totem Club.” Soon after, she became the host of a “Totem Club” segment called “This Is Rhythm.”

Though she never married or had children, she had a lifelong affinity for the younger set. “It’s a big deal when she sees kids,” said her longtime manager and friend Bernadelle Richter in a 2023 interview. “It’s like an infusion for her. She’s always thinking about kids and how the world relates to them and how they relate to the world.”