Tess Wiley was born in
Dallas, Texas in 1974 to a Christian family. Her mother was a poet Kathryn Wiley while her father was a musician Fletch Wiley, one of
The Disciples. Tess's childhood was rather peripatetic: she travelled frequently from Houston to Seattle to San Francisco then back to Houston. She showed an interest in music and songwriting from an early age, adding "Create in Me a Clean Heart" and "Tender Shepherd" to her repertoire at the age of two. She began to play the piano at the age of five, then the violin at 12, and the guitar at 14. She wanted to make her musical style along the lines of hard rock guitarist
Slash, but riffing soon gave way to contemplative songwriting. She spent her high school years singing in the band Nothing in Return while studying classical piano at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, Texas where she sang along with
Mariah Carey and
Whitney Houston. ==Career==