I was born Jean Marie Mayer in St. Albans, New York in 1955. When I was 5 years old my family moved to the coastal town of Lompoc, California. I drew pictures for my elementary school classmates and taught myself to play the guitar at age twelve. Within a few years I was teaching children to play guitar at Camp Cielo art & music camp in Santa Barbara, which led to performing in a 50s tribute band with fellow Cabrillo High School students when I was sixteen.  

 

Enrolled as an art major at Alan Hancock College in Santa Maria, California, I attended classes by day and worked as a waitress on the graveyard shift at Denny's Restaurant, where I became friends with the two night cooks, who were both musicians. On the weekends we would sit in with a local nightclub duo then leave to start our shifts at Denny's. One night a band from San Luis Obispo saw me performing with the duo and offered me a job singing with them five nights a week. I left college and Denny's and never looked back.