French jazz-pop chanteuse Florence K was born in Montreal in 1983 to guitarist/composer Hany Khoriaty and opera singer Natalie Choquette. After making her television debut at six, at 16 she toured behind her mother as a pianist, a year later playing her first solo gig. Florence K spent the next several years as the house pianist at Montreal's Stash Café, amassing an extensive repertoire of songs sung in French, English, Portuguese, and Spanish via infrequent leaves of absence to play limited residencies everywhere from Atlantic City to Casablanca to Hanoi. In 2005, Florence K issued her debut LP, Live au Lion d'Or, on her own Red Blues label. Bossa Blue followed in mid-2006. ~ Jason Ankeny