In 1905, while Civilla Martin was writing the lyrics for “His eye is on the sparrow”, a nine-year-old African-American girl was growing up in the slums of Philadelphia. Her teenage mother had been raped at knife point by John Waters and she rejected her daughter at birth, sending the baby to live with her grandmother and two aunts. Her grandmother worked long hours as a housekeeper so little Ethel didn’t really have a childhood with someone to nurture and rear her. At that young age she had dropped out of school and was working as a housekeeper, doing other odd jobs and pretty much running wild. She had a gift for singing and dancing and as a teenager even performed in local clubs. On her 21st birthday she was performing at a Halloween party when she was signed by a promoter from an African-American vaudeville troupe to travel with them singing the blues. She was tall and slender so they billed her as Miss Stringbean. While on tour she began recording. One composer wrote a blues song especially for her titled “Stormy Weather”. She was also cast to sing; dance and act in several movies. She received national attention and became a celebrity in the 1930s and 1940s. By 1950, she was no longer slender and was showing her age. The director of a Broadway show, “A Member of the Wedding”, wanted her to play a middle aged nanny for two white children. In the play she would sing a song to calm and comfort them. That song just didn’t feel right to Ethel and she suggested “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” instead. He loved the idea; signed her for the part and put that song in the play. Two years later they made a movie by the same name and she kept her role and sang that song in the movie. So the well-known and loved Ethel Waters would now be forever associated with that song.