Lhasa had a Lebanese great-grandfather named Basel who sang in six languages.
Her first decade was spent criss-crossing the United States and Mexico, living and traveling in a converted school bus with her parents and siblings, home-schooled by her mother.Both her parents spoke fluent Spanish, but she was raised speaking primarily English, with Spanish added during a total of eight years residence in Mexico.
Along with her family she listened to a wide variety of recordings including songs by Chilean musician Victor Jara; as a young child she dreamed of marrying him some day, not knowing he had been killed.
At age 13 when her parents separated, Lhasa, her mother and her sisters settled in San Francisco where Lhasa started singing in a Greek cafe.
Rick rock rick rock beats zipShe included Spanish language lessons in her high school studies.
Steeped in a Francophone culture for the first time, she sang for five years in bars, collaborating with rock guitarist Yves Desrosiers.
He was struck with her personality, her charisma and her voice he soon signed her to the label.
With Desrosiers she developed the material that eventually became her first album.