 Worrell was born in Charlottesville to a prominent local media family; her father, Thomas E. Worrell, inherited a media network consisting of the Charlottesville Daily Progress and 28 other newspapers.She graduated from the University of Virginia in 1990 and stayed in Charlottesville, participating in the local music scene.Worrell played in a band called Paris Match in the early part of the decade, but left to work as a solo artist sometime after 1991.