Tutu Puoane was born in Pretoria, South Africa. She grew up in Mamelodi and moved to Cape Town to study at the Music College of the University of Cape Town (UCT) at age 18. After that she went to Europe, under the wings of dutch piano player Jack van Poll, who was living and teaching in Cape Town. She studied in the Royal Conservatory of The Hague for two years between 2002 and 2004 and has been living in Europe ever since. She's now based in Belgium