Vocalist, composer, and arranger Perla Batalla was born in Los Angeles, CA. Her father was a musician and owned a popular record store. There were very few forms of music that Batalla didn't get a chance to experience early in her childhood in that busy family store. She found she loved most kinds. Batalla won a scholarship to study at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute. Her voice was impressive enough to land her vocal roles in both film and television. After a while she became a background singer for Leonard Cohen and K. D. Lang. By 1993, Batalla was making her first attempts at a solo career. In a year's time, she had recorded a self-titled debut solo album under the Discovery Records label. It took four years before she did a sophomore recording, Mestiza.