“To every thing there is a Season, and a Time to every purpose under Heaven.”    

Born in the Bronx, Ellen grew up on Long Island.  The eldest of six kids in a musical and artistic household, she was bitten by the show biz bug early and performed in school productions throughout high school and college.

After graduating, Ellen returned to Long Island to teach high school for several years, but felt called to the City.  She moved to Manhattan after getting a job at an advertising agency.

Soon Ellen was selling magazine ad space to pay the bills while indulging her inner entertainer with acting classes and voice lessons.

Following a one off opportunity to sing in public with her sisters Jane and Mary Jo, the girls created a comedy/cabaret act and began performing as Those Gennaro Sisters in Manhattan and around the New York metro area.  Andy Warhol came to see them at Caroline’s and they performed at Studio 54 for Peter Allen’s birthday party.

Fueled by the desire to spend more time on her show biz aspirations, and encouraged by appearing in several commercials, Ellen quit her day job. She gave herself a year to audition and write/record songs. 

The year passed quickly, but without the stability and perks of a regular paycheck, Ellen decided to put her dreams on hold and get back into the business world.

“To everything there is a season. . .”

Always happiest near the ocean and ready for a big change, Ellen moved herself to Los Angeles where she restarted her career in magazine ad sales, eventually transitioning to cable tv ad sales.  After achieving success in her “show biz-less” career, Ellen retired from corporate life on April Fool’s Day 2014, with plans to revisit “Music”.

Through a series of very “woo woo” experiences, (a story for another time), Ellen accepted that she was being heavily nudged by the Universe to move to Nashville for her next phase of life.

Arriving in Music City in the summer of 2014,  Ellen took voice lessons, went to shows and began getting settled into life without the ocean.

In 2015, a friend recommended signing up for a Performing Songwriter workshop with Mary Gauthier.   This became the first of many valuable PSW opportunities to learn from influential and award winning songwriting masters including Mary, Gretchen Peters, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Emily Saliers, Verlon Thompson, Suzy Bogus, Jonatha Brooke and Kim Richey.

Feeling the need to up her game, Ellen started guitar lessons with Josh Dutoit (Eastside Gamblers, John Corabi) in 2016.  At the time, neither she nor Josh knew they would become music collaborators and producing partners. 

By 2018, the two were recording and producing original songs and were joined by award winning engineer/producer Austin Atwood (Joe Bonamassa, Evanescence, Dierks Bentley, Eric Gales), who Ellen had met at a workshop at Ocean Way Studios.  

Since then, the talented three have released three 5 song EPs:  It’s Time (4/20), Time Will Tell (1/21) and About Time (9/21).

The songs vary in content, style and message, but offer Ellen’s point of view in the voice of imaginary characters, lessons she has learned and the challenges of the times we are living through.

The title of her first EP,  It’s Time, announces Ellen’s arrival at a time in her life to embrace new possibilities and a fresh start, and the songs reflect this.  Each of the three verses in Choose opens with “What if . . . ?”  At the Threshold speaks directly to a new beginning: “Today is the day I’m taking my chance, to sing a new song and dance a new dance.”  And a very Carpe Diem vibe is expressed in the lyric: “Now’s the time to take a stand joined together hand in hand” from Rise Up.

Less than a year later, Time Will Tell, Ellen’s second EP, continued the time theme in 5 songs that look to the past, the future, or both. “This land knows my name through lifetimes of change” is the first line in This Land Knows My Name, a love story about Scotland.  “The past turns to dust and the last shall be first” (Spirit of Progress) speaks to what has been and what is coming.  Set in Nashville, Chase Your Dream unites everyone whose hopes for the future include the fulfillment of their creative desires.

About Time, the third time themed EP, debuted eight months after its predecessor.  Two of the songs on this EP include “Time” in their title and each song on the EP continues the tradition of addressing the past, present and/or future. Ellen thinks that Time to Find Love, her duet with the wildly talented, award winning singer songwriter and super great guy Verlon Thompson, “is a perfect candidate for a Disney movie soundtrack!  Romantic and Magical!”

Top of the Mountain is a morality tale and oh so bluegrass!

If I Only Had Time, (a ballad featuring background vocals from Verlon), was included on the New York Times The Morning Spring 2023 Spotify playlist.

The Time Trilogy, an album compilation of all three EPs, will be released in Fall, 2024.  Stripped down acoustic versions of Chase Your Dream and Choose will be released as singles during the summer and (along with Working to Survive) will be included on the album as bonus tracks.

There are lots of new songs in the works and more releases are in the pipeline.

Ellen and Josh are currently expanding their efforts beyond the songwriting/producing/recording studio experience to creating You Tube videos with plans to perform live as Gennaro & Dutoit.