Born and raised in Malibu, California, Emilie Autumn began learning the violin at the age of four and left regular school five years later with the goal of becoming a world-class violinist. Progressing to writing her own music, she studied under various teachers and went to Indiana University, which she left over issues regarding the relationship between classical music and the appearance of the performer. Through her own independent label Traitor Records, Autumn debuted with her classical album On a Day: Music for Violin & Continuo, followed by the release in 2003 of her supernaturally themed album Enchant. As a sufferer of bipolar disorder, she uses her experiences as a source of inspiration for her work. She was admitted to a psychiatric ward at a Los Angeles hospital after attempting suicide in 2004. Upon her release, she had her cell block number tattooed on her right arm as a way of remembering what happened to her and penned her autobiographical novel, The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls, which was published in 2010.