Ketevan Melua, known as Ketino (Georgian: ქეთინო) to her family, was born in Georgia in 1984, then part of the Soviet Union, either in Kutaisi or in Tbilisi, where she spent her first years with her grandparents. Later she moved with her parents and brother to the town of Batumi, Ajaria where her father worked as a heart specialist. During this time Melua sometimes Read more...

Because of her upbringing in politically unstable Georgia and troubled Belfast, Melua initially planned to become either a historian or a politician. This changed in 2000, at the age of 15, when Melua took part in a talent competition on British television channel ITV called "Stars Up Their Noses" (a spoof of Stars in Their Eyes) as part of the children's programme Mad for It!. Melua won the contest Read more...

Although she is a baptised Orthodox Christian, whilst living in Belfast, Melua attended the Roman Catholic schools St. Catherine's Primary School and Dominican College, Fortwilliam, while her younger brother attended Protestant schools. After completing her GCSEs at the all-girls' grammar school Nonsuch High School in Cheam, Sutton, Melua attended the BRIT School for the Performing Arts in the London Read more...