Yossi Green was raised in a Satmar Hasidic family in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York. Although his parents did not allow musical instruments in the house, his mother developed his taste for music by listening to records. He taught himself how to play music on a friend’s melodica. While studying at the Manchester Yeshivah in 1973, Green began to write his own songs. During this time he heard Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly with His Song" playing from a passing car