Anna Nalick

Anna Nalick was born on March 30, 1984, and grew up in Glendora, California, near Pasadena. Early indications of her developing into a future songwriter appeared before she finished grade school, as she would rewrite the lyrics to popular songs she liked during class time. She soon took up the guitar and learned to compose melodies based on others she'd heard, and couple those with the lyrics she had written to create her own slightly sampled songs.

During high school, music began taking up more of Nalick's time. She continued to develop her songwriting craft, which had become increasingly original, and also began performing live with a local rock group. She sang lead in a Rush cover band, and had to be "really angry and do a lot of screaming" with another group that played hard rock and heavy metal tunes. While she gained valuable stage and performance experience, she had her mind set on playing her original compositions.

Following high school, Nalick entered college with intentions to complete her studies and then pursue her dream of a musical career. She began recording demos of her songs on her inexpensive Rainbow Brite cassette tape recorder, hoping they would further her chances of getting discovered.

She met a photographer who also taught at a high school in her area, and gave him a six-track demo after he told her that he had a student with parents in the music industry.

As it turned out, the student's mother managed record producers as well as others in the business, and she was soon introduced to Blind Melon's founding members Christopher Thorn and Brad Smith, who were working as a production team. She also met Eric Rosse, who was best known for his work as Tori Amos' producer, as a result of her demo falling into the right hands at the right time.