By Cynthia Charlene Greason
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Ella Louise Jenkins (August 6, 1924 – November 9, 2024) was an American singer-songwriter. Called “The First Lady of the Children’s Folk Song”, she 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 and in 2004, she received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. 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.”
On November 9, 2024, Jenkins died at an assisted living facility in Chicago; she was 100.
