Lila’Angelique was born Caitlin Churchill Harkin with her twin sister Jamie Johnson on the 26th of February 1988 in New York City. Her preschool years were spent in Bergenfield, New Jersey, but her family moved to Nashville when she was 5. Both parents are professional musicians. Her mother, Caroline Peyton, is a singer who worked on Broadway. Her father, Brendan Harkin, is a guitarist and recording engineer who runs a full time recording studio in his home.
In elementary school, she began Suzuki violin lessons when she saw a fellow student with a violin, but she quickly grew tired of the regimented group lessons and turned to studying classical at the Blair School of Music and Irish fiddle with private teachers.
At 10, she was introduced to Verdi’s Rigoletto by her cousin and fell in love with opera. Delving passionately into the art form, she learned many operas by heart. One summer, two years later, she began voice lessons after discovering she had vibrato while singing along with Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro.
At 13, she met her mentor, Will Griffin who nurtured and tutored her in philosophy, art and music.
In High School, she was placed in advanced choirs and won talent shows with her twin sister, singing operatic duets such as “Sous le dôme épais” from Delibes’ Lakme and “We are women” from Bernstein’s Candide. She studied voice with Metropolitan Opera coloratura soprano Elizabeth Carter, and her technique advanced rapidly. Instead of paying attention in math class, she would study the libretto to Mozart’s Die Zauberflote. Many of her teachers and fellow students had trouble with her outlandish styles of clothing: cut up jumpsuits, tutu’s, tuxedos and clown makeup.
Before her 18th birthday, she sang the duet “Ach, ich liebte” from Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio with Will Griffin on Nashville’s classical radio station, WPLN 90.3 .
As a freshman at the University of Kentucky at Lexington, she played Ariel in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, composing original music for her character. She also played the title role in Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors.
After a year in the university, she dropped out and moved to New York City to study at Circle in the Square Theatre School. She was frustrated by the school’s emotionally draining regimen and was also alienated from her peers.
On October 11th 2008, she wandered into Central Park and stumbled upon Thoth in the Angel Tunnel. She became his only student. On March 2009, she joined him in prayformance and stopped going to theater school. In the fall, she and Thoth released a CD of their music recorded live. Presently, she and he perform their miniature tribal baroque operas throughout the world.