Lia Bauman Starace was born on January 6, 1973 in Queens, NY. She grew up with a single mother who supported her and her sister by painting book covers: mystery, science fiction and horror. During college, she worked in a record store and started working for a record label. It seemed inevitable to have both art and music be an integral part of her life. While working full time, she attended the Art Student's League. Unlike many aspiring artists learning the basic crafts, Lia gravitated towards sculpture before drawing or painting. Sculpture just came more naturally. "Being raised by a mother who did it all on her own always gave me the idea that no matter what full time job I had, I would have the confidence to eventually pursue art more seriously than just a hobby. Visual images were always around me & I've always found myself constantly needing to make something." While working in the field of music, she met many people who also loved music and art and she started getting requests to recreate their favorite album covers. It was then that she started to get noticed and has pieces displayed in the offices of BMG Entertainment, V2 Records, Wind-Up Records and the King Biscuit Flower Hour. Her latest piece went to Greg Lake (King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer) as a gift from his manager. "I'll always continue to make music oriented pieces because somebody always has a favorite album or rock star image and I love the personal side to it. My main focus now however is to start developing a more extensive body of original work".