One of the top up-and-coming jazz singers of the late '90s, Dominique Eade had quite a bit of experience before she ever recorded. The daughter of an American Air Force officer, she spent much of her childhood moving around, living in different places in Europe. Eade had piano lessons as a child and decided that she was going to be a singer when she was in the second grade; she also played guitar as a teenager while living mostly in Germany. An English major at Vassar, Eade for a time sang in a band called Naima that also included Joe McPhee. She soon transferred to Berklee College and also attended the New England Conservatory of Music; Ran Blake was one of her more significant teachers. She has taught at the New England Conservatory since 1984 while working as a singer. Eade, who is also a talented composer, recorded two CDs for Accurate (1991 and 1994) that gained some attention, and in 1997 recorded her debut for RCA, a tribute to June Christy and Chris Connor.