Francesca Lombardo grew up in Castiglione delle Stiviere, close to Lake Garda in north-west Italy, in a family of chefs and restaurateurs. She would harmonise with her father, who loved to sing, and could effortlessly accompany any of the many instruments in the house. At the age of six, her parents enrolled her in a ten-year course in classical piano and opera at the Conservatorium of Music. Six years in, she left Italy and moved to London.
"For some reason, I was convinced that I needed to go to London to pursue a career in music, even as a child," she says. "I always had a special connection with London and it's still my favourite city. Looking back, it was my mission. Some people are lost in life. Me, no. I always knew what I wanted to do."
She arrived in London in 1999, completed a Sound Engineering course and a three-year degree in Vocal Techniques in Popular Music Performance at Thames Valley University. She found the underground techno scene and she found a studio. She got a bank loan for five thousand pounds and paid it back over ten years. She bought the basics: an amplifier, speakers, a PC, a mixer. She spent years improving. She eventually found that she preferred working with hardware over software, and that hardware preferred her back.
