Lato was born Danuta Irzyk on 25 November 1963 (some sources giving the year 1965 instead of 1963) in the small village of Szufnarowa in Gmina Wiśniowa, Podkarpackie Voivodeship where she later worked as a kindergarten teacher.
[2] Some sources claim her daughter Laura is from that weeklong marriage.
Lato moved to West Germany in 1984 to pursue a modeling and film career, including a recurring role in Yehuda Barkan's series of Hidden Camera films.
As a singer, she had moderate success in Europe with her single "Touch My Heart".
Her other songs were syndicated across European Italo disco compilation CDs from the 1980s–1990s, such as Hot Girls.