Born in 1984, L'Aura (a play on her first name, Laura) began playing the piano at age six, picking up the violin at 11, and singing the entire time. At 14 she met Andrea Bariselli, the man who would later become her manager, who encouraged her to write her own songs, songs that they later recorded on a demo tape. The demo eventually made its way into the hands of an American producer, who invited L'Aura to come to California to work on her music. Just before her 17th birthday, L'Aura moved to Berkeley, where she spent the next two years writing songs, practicing her English, and meeting and working with a variety of different artists from around the world. Back in Italy, despite her hesitations, Bariselli convinced her to continue with her music and start thinking about making a full-length record. L'Aura's friend from Berkeley, Enrique Gonzalez Müller, agreed to produce the album, and in 2006 Okumuki (the title a Japanese word that refers to the most central part of a house), which contained songs in both English and Italian, came out. ~ Marisa Brown