Jazz singer Irene Nachreiner, who performs under the name Irene, was born in Los Angeles, CA, and began to play the piano at age four, commencing formal lessons with her uncle, the concert pianist Frank Youkstetter, when she was eight and continuing them through high school. Although she sang in her church choir as a child, she did not turn to singing seriously until later. She graduated cum laude with a B.A. in drama from the University of California at Irvine and as an adult embarked on a varied career in the entertainment industry that included taking dance lessons, studying screenwriting at UCLA, and performing with a comedy troupe. She also became a video editor at CBS-TV. She began studying singing in the late '90s, first performing traditional jazz, then leaning toward Latin jazz when she began working with several South American musicians, Daniel Groisman (bass), Marco Tulio (acoustic guitar), and Cristiano Novelli (percussion). They formed the core of what she called her Latin Jazz Band and appeared on her debut CD, Summer Samba, which she released on October 30, 2007. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi