 Picking up melodies effortlessly by ear, she began composing her own songs at an early age.She pursued her love of music balanced by her love of animals and nature while growing up in the coastal town of Balboa Island, California and on a ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains.While Kiki was in high school, Buddy Ebsen developed a family troupe, during a hiatus from filming the CBS television show, "Barnaby Jones", that went on a tour of southern California.