Essami was born in
Kyiv to a Ukrainian mother, Tatiana Petrova, and a father, Klaver Essami, from the
Republic of the Congo. When she was an infant, the family left Ukraine and moved to her father's hometown of
Brazzaville. They lived in the Republic of the Congo for five years, until Essami and her mother returned to Ukraine in 1985. Due to living most of her early childhood in the Republic of the Congo, Essami could only speak
French and
Lingala upon returning to Ukraine, although she later became fluent in
Ukrainian and
Russian as well. Essami's estranged father remained in Brazzaville, where he owned a transportation business. In Kyiv, Essami attended a music school, where she learned how to play the
saxophone. She later pursued an education in
economics. Since her youth, Essami was a decorated athlete who was a champion
table tennis player. In 1991, Essami competed in the children's music competition
Fantasy Lotto Nadiya, where she placed third. Following the competition, Essami began singing in a children's music ensemble led by Volodymyr Bystryakov. In the Soviet Union,
R&B music was not widespread, so Essami was introduced to foreign songs while attending
underground music venues as a teenager. ==Music career==