Hawaiian-born Patty Ocfemia has lived in the Philippines, Alaska, Los Angeles, Washington DC, West Virginia and New York City, where she currently resides.

Growing up, there was not one musical member to speak of in her Filipino-Irish-American family, but when Patty was eight years old her mother won a guitar at Bingo and gave it to her. Already a fan of loud rock and roll, she was so aggressive she kept breaking strings, leaving only two remaining. At her fifth-grade talent show, she played that two-string guitar with a vengeance, in a unique rendition of Proud Mary. She placed second.

Among her musical influences are the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, Nick Drake and Blondie. Her singing, songwriting and six-string guitar playing began around the same time that her stint as a University of Maryland theater major was coming to an end. Patty explains, "I didn't want to be cast in South Pacific any more, so I decided to work in a Chinese restaurant instead.

Her most colorful years were spent as a bartender in Washington DC. That's where she was inspired to write about the characters who sat at the bar. One of the songs from that time, Margarita Sisters, appears as a cut on her forthcoming CD.