Abby Bardi was born and raised in Chicago. She attended Occidental College. She went on to get an M.A. in English from the University of Maryland, and in 1981, moved to Japan, with her then-husband, to teach. In 1984, she moved to England, where she spent six years also teaching English and occasionally singing both solo and in groups, In 1990, she returned to the Washington area, and in 1993 began teaching at Prince George's Community College, where she is now a tenured professor.
