Her career began after being introduced to various musicians, including singer Paloma Faith, for whom she sang backing vocals.

(2012), was released to positive reviews from critics and earned her a nomination for the BBC's Sound of 2012 poll and awards for the iTunes Album of The Year 2012.

[5][non-primary source needed][6] She was raised in Tooting and Streatham, spending the majority of her time with her grandparents after her parents separated.

She had planned to take an art foundation course before she decided to leave college to pursue a career in music full-time.

Duncan Ellis, owner of Scruffy Bird Artist Management, first heard of La Havas through colleague Alex Hardee of the Coda Music Agency.

[9] When Ellis first saw La Havas perform, she was in the duo the Paris Parade, collaborating with future Elephant member Christian Pinchbeck (he later designed the artwork for Lost & Found).

[10] In 2010, La Havas signed to Warner Bros. Records, spending two years developing her songwriting skills before releasing any music publicly.

[15][16] La Havas made her television debut on the 21 October 2011 broadcast of BBC Two's Later... with Jools Holland, a programme that also featured Wisconsin folk band Bon Iver.

[17] Soon after her TV debut, on 25 October 2011, it was announced that La Havas would be the supporting act for Bon Iver's December 2011 North American tour.

[31] In 2016 La Havas supported Coldplay on the European and Latin American legs of their A Head Full of Dreams world tour.

[32] La Havas lately plays a hollow-bodied 1964 Harmony Alden Stratotone guitar, which is put through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amp on stage with her band.

[39][40] The New York Times' chief pop music critic Jon Pareles, in his review, said:The songs illuminate passion, impulsiveness, ambivalence and uncertainty, yet the structures La Havas created are lucid and poised.

[39]Another reviewer, David Cheal, described the album in FT as "soulful" and compared it to the music of Jill Scott and Erykah Badu.