Honeytree was born into a family of professional classical musicians. Honeytree (a translation from German of her family name) was drawn toward the hippie kids at school. She became a drug addict and one summer in 1970 she met some Jesus People at her sister's art school, and became one herself. After graduating, she worked at a youth ministry in Ft. Wayne, Indiana called Adams Apple, a part of the Jesus movement, and it was during these years that she began to write songs about her Christianity, recording her self-titled first album in 1973.