Lara's early years

Lara was born to a Flemish father and a Sicilian mother. Her name comes from her parents' inspiration of the theme song of the film Doctor Zhivago. Although born in Etterbeek (Belgium), she spent her first five years in Catania, learning Italian as a first language, before moving back to Belgium, in Brussels. Lara began singing, dancing, and taking piano lessons at a very young age and began formal music lessons at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels at age eight. Lara began writing and performing her own songs during her ten years study at the conservatory. Lara's songs were greatly influenced as much by her classical vocal and music theory training as contemporary artists as Barbra Streisand and Queen. During this time, Lara entered a number of European competitions and won several prizes. A consequence of winning one of those contests was the release of her first ever single " L'Aziza est en pleurs" / Il y avait " (written by the Belgian composer Marc Lerchs) a homage to the deceased French singer Daniel Balavoine, in the year of 1986.