Tessa was born into a musical family. Her parents met at music college in London and both earn their living teaching and performing. 

In a house full of instruments Tessa soon developed an interest in playing the piano, trombone and tuba, guitar, violin and saxophone, and had a reputation for not practicing her scales on any of them!

At 10 years old Tessa began experimenting with writing her own compositions, using two old cassette tape machines to multi track record herself singing and playing. By 20 Tessa was studying music at Dartington college of Arts and graduated with a BA honours degree. Whilst at Dartington Tessa studied classical singing and composition and played many gigs on the electric bass guitar, with a preference for funk and Jazz.

Tessa began song writing when she was 24 years old at a very difficult time in her life when she was first treated for clinical depression. The songs on this her first album, grew out of this period and are, in part, an emotional response to this situation.

Tessa sites Joni Mitchell, Suzanne Vega and Tracey Chapman as some of her main musical influences.