Petra was born into a musical family. At age seven, after seeing Captain Kangaroo playing the violin on T.V., Petra decided to take up the instrument herself. Although she quit the violin in 7th grade, she started imitating instruments, and doing impressions of people such as Edith Bunker, Billie Holiday, Vinny Barbarino, and even Ronald Reagan. Hence her love for singing. she started playing again when she was 20. She's turned her fixation on Captain Kangaroo's favorite instrument into a career of her own, playing, and singing with some of the big names of alternative jazz and rock for the last 15 years.