Born in the rural village of Kill, County Kildare, Ireland, Talbot began singing in the church choir run by her mother.

At sixteen, she enrolled at Dublin's Bel Canto singing school, studying for the next year and a half under its founder and director Frank Merriman.

When she was 18, Heidi moved to New York, where she spent two years working in bars and clubs before being invited to join Cherish the Ladies in 2002.

In between the band's touring schedule, Talbot continued to develop her solo work, releasing Distant Future on Nashville roots label Compass Records.

After the launch of In Love and Light at Glasgow's Celtic Connections festival in January 2008, Talbot featured as a guest on albums by Radiohead drummer Philip Selway, and the new trio collaboration of John McCusker, Kris Drever and Roddy Woomble.