Growing up in Connecticut, Lia Knapp started music at a young age. She was in classical violin classes at only three years old and classical piano classes at five. As Lia grew up, she sang in competitive choirs and toured with a national youth choir, and ended up at college for classical music and opera.

In 2016, she moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and got a job as a bartender on Broadway while writing and composing her own music on the side.

She released her first single, What I Want in 2022.