Caruana grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Newport, the youngest, by some years, of six siblings by parents of Maltese extraction.

[5][6] Her strongest musical influence was her sister Carmen, 14 years older, with whom she sang and who taught her to harmonise, and who introduced her to lasting musical influences: blues and gospel, Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, the Pretenders and Joan Armatrading.

[1][3] Other family influences were country, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Ray Charles, Elvis Presley, the crooners, Stevie Wonder, Dr John, The Cure, The Police, Prince and Michael Jackson.

[8] Caruana, her brother Michael on keyboards and drummer George Servanis are the principal members of the Mama Kin ensemble.

[2] Her debut album, Beat and Holler, written almost entirely on an old Wurlitzer organ[1] and recorded at The Compound, Fremantle and released in 2009.

Caruana's grandfather worked as a professional magician in post-World War II Malta, and her mother, Iris, was one of his assistants.

[3] In February 2011 John Butler and Caruana performed as Brave and the Bird at the annual Gimme Shelter fundraising event for the homeless at the Fremantle Arts Centre,[17][18] their set introduced by Kevin Rudd.

[5] She reports that one of her biggest discoveries was Transcendental Meditation and that, "When I first started this practice I remember thinking 'Oh, this is what sanity must feel like.

'"[12] The John Butler Trio song "Daniella", from the group's 2007 album Grand National, is about Caruana.