The daughter of jazz chanteuse Ann Marie Schofield and the late jazz pianist Walter Davis, Jr., Alana Davis made her own stand as a singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York's Greenwich Village, Davis learned to play the guitar as a youngster. Music remained an avocation, however, until her late-teens. Although she began writing songs at the age of eighteen, Davis didn't turn to music as a career until briefly attending Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica, New York. Leaving school to devote her full attention to music, Davis recorded a demo tapes of her original tunes. Signed by Elektra, she released her first single, a remake of Ani DiFranco's "32 Flavors", and it reached the top forty of ~Billboard's "Hot 100" in early 1998. The single's success also led to an invitation to participate in the #Lilith Fair. But Davis and Elektra disagreed about the direction of her career. While the label hoped for a straightforward R&B sound, Davis was more interested in fusing her rich mix of influences.