Ella Dawn Jenkins (born 1988 or 1989), also known by her artist name EllaHarp, is an American harpist and singer.[1] She first received attention in the 2010s, as a blogger in the tiny-house movement.
Jenkins grew up in Malibu.[1] At age 16, her family moved to Frazier Park, in Kern County, California.[1][2] Her paternal grandfather was arranger and composer Gordon Jenkins.[3][4]
At age 7, Jenkins began taking piano lessons, but she switched to harp at age 8 after discovering her love for the instrument.[3][4][5]
Jenkins attended the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Scottish Music.[1][6] While attending school, she sometimes busked in Glasgow to supplement her income.[6]
In the early 2010s, one of Jenkin's harps was destroyed when she checked it on a flight.[7] She learned to play the banjo, a more easily transportable instrument, as she was worried about flying with a harp again.[7] In mid-2016, Jenkins decided to design a harp specifically with airplane overhead luggage compartments in mind.[5][7] Her smaller model has an aluminum frame, which allows strings to have more tension compared to a wooden frame; aluminum is also more durable and less at risk to temperature fluctuations than wood.[7][8] Her model has only 29 strings, rather than the usual 30; she left out the high A string, as she rarely used it.[1] Jenkins and her then-boyfriend began experimenting with several different models, and by 2022 the pair had made three aluminum harps, two of which Jenkins has flown with successfully.[7] Jenkins has also built a banjo, which fits into a harp case.[5]
Jenkins released her debut album, Who Asked you Back, in February 2018.[1][6] Her goal with the album was to challenge listeners' perceptions of harp music, with some tracks having blues influences.[6] Guitarist Sam Eigen guested on several of the album's tracks.[6]
In 2021, Jenkins released her second album, Screaming into the Void.[8] The titular track was released as a single in April 2020,[9][10][11] and a music video for the song was released in September 2021.[8]
In June 2023, she released her third album, Lost in January.[12]
In the early 2010s, Jenkins was a blogger in the tiny-house movement.[13][14][15] She also taught tiny house workshops throughout the United States while working for Tumbleweed Tiny House Company.[13][16]
Jenkins built her tiny home over the course of a year, with her stepfather's help, in the driveway of her parents' house.[17][18] She lived in her tiny house for about five years, at times with her boyfriend and dog.[16] She moved out of her tiny house in 2017, saying her "life goals...outgrew the tiny house".[13]