GET TO KNOW ELLA...

The first memory I have of music is when I was three years old, singing the “Itsy Bitsy Spider” in a rainstorm. Perched on a rickety wooden stool on my back porch, I excitedly shared the song for my family. I remember my grandparents’ fond smiles as they sang along and the lense of my mom's video camera. The gray dismal day, that would most often lead to sullen moods and frustration at the skies, did not even phase me. The feeling of performing was like a cozy blanket, giving me all the warmth I could need.  Now I am eighteen years old, and I no longer need a stool to reach the microphone. Though nursery rhymes have turned to folksy bops and heartfelt piano tunes, the warmth and comfort I feel every time I play music has never wavered.

Between those first days and now, my devotion to music has taken me down many roads. Violin lessons lead to piano and guitar lessons which lead to voice lessons. When I was four, my family joined a chorale. This greatly supported my interest in singing and gave me immense experience performing on stage. To this day, I am still a participant, learning and growing from every performance. Throughout the years, I have had many different stage and singing opportunities. The Christmas Revels, performing with the Portland Symphony, singing on 4 CD’s (as of  2018), Berklee summer programs… In 2014, along with four other kids/teens, I created a band. We called ourselves “The Minors,” and for the past four years, have been playing any gig we can get: farmers markets, church basements, porchfests, and busking on the streets. However small or not small each show has been, I am so thankful for the skills they’ve helped me to develop. Without the countless hours spent learning to work with other musicians, and learning how to be on stage, there’s no way I could have the comfort to play solo the way I do now.  

Years of struggling with chronic illness were made bearable because of the - I believe - healing powers of song.  For me, music has not only been an immense joy in my life, but one of the few things that has kept me from totally crashing.  Suffering through the depth of illness at a young age was a leading force for me to write my own songs. I have always used writing songs as an escape from whatever tough thing is happening. I love being able to completely fantasize in my songs or write about cold hard reality. Songwriting is such a versatile container for emotions. There are songs out there for every possible feeling, and I love contributing to that.

All those roads... every melody I’ve learned to sing, every instrument I’ve learned to play, every show I’ve performed, every song I’ve written, I beyond appreciate. Without them, I don’t know if I’d be where I am now. A newly licenced driver, I can be found rocking out to Taylor Swift, Carole King, Tom Petty, Alicia Keys, Chance The Rapper, Tracy Chapman, The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Ed Sheeran...  I’ll be riding the roads leading to: an original album (!!!!); as many open mics in the Boston area that my gas money will allow; college tours; and so many future journeys I don’t even have the maps for yet!

Please support me by listening to my music, watching/sharing my videos, following my socials… Music is the gift that doesn’t cost anything, it’s the warm blanket on a dreary day, it’s a constant uplifting force in our crazy, upside-down world. It means so much to me to share my world, my everything, with anyone who wants to listen. So...THANK YOU, for helping, for reading, for singing along, for listening.

 

Sincerely,

Ella Faye

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