Joscelyn Eve Stoker was born on April 11, 1987, in the pastoral county of Kent, England, to Wendy (Skillin) and Richard Stoker. She spent her teen years in the rural county of Devon, where she bought her first album, Aretha Franklin's Greatest Hits, which inspired her to become a singer. At the age of 14, she auditioned for a popular BBC show, Star for a Night (1999).