Raissa Khan-Panni was brought up in South London. At an early age, Raissa was encouraged by her parents to follow a career in music. She started busking in central London on the oboe. At the age of 18, Raissa started travelling around eastern Europe, and in the early 90's found herself in Bristol, where she met Paul Sandrone and Dan Birch, who had been working together for six years. Raissa met Paul at a party where he was "playing some dodgy tunes on the guitar".