Ensconced at a boarding school as a teenager, Gray was exposed to the Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix, the Sugarhill Gang and Eric B. & Rakim. At home, there were piano lessons and James Brown and Aretha Franklin on the turntable. It may seem like a natural foundation for original song-crafting, but Gray's entree to the music business was accidental.

Dreaming of a career as a screenwriter, Gray moved to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California's film school. While there, she wrote some lyrics as a favor to a musician friend; fate stepped in when the original singer missed the recording session, and Gray filled in. It was Gray's sultry voice on the demo that wound up being circulated to record company execs, and the next thing she knew she was fronting a jazz band. "I was shy about doing music because kids used to make fun of my voice when I was younger," she admits, twirling her spray of golden curls. But anyone who hears her now knows there's nothing wrong with sounding like Billie Holiday, minus the blues.

A veteran of skewed record company politics -- she signed with Atlantic in 1995 but was later dropped -- Gray has already seen the downside of the biz. Still, it wasn't long before her time came once again, and she secured a deal with Epic.