Katie Noonan's parents, opera singer Maggie Noonan and journalist and singer Brian Noonan, met on the set of the performance TV program Showcase (she won the judges' vote; he the viewers'). Accordingly, they raised their children surrounded by music. Her brother, Tyrone Noonan, was also strongly influenced by that upbringing, and the two of them formed the band george in 1996 to enter a talent competition. In 1997 she also formed a jazz group called Elixir with her future husband, Zac Hurren, releasing a self-titled album a year later. At the time, Katie was still studying opera and jazz at the Queensland Conservatorium, and it was not until 2002 that george recorded a debut album. That album, Polyserena, debuted at number one. Within two months, it had sold enough copies to be certified platinum. Their follow-up album, Unity, was recorded the next year in Byron Bay and released in 2004. That year also saw the release of an album of duets between Katie and her mother, Maggie, Two of a Kind, a blend of their jazz and operatic sensibilities. After the release of those two albums, Katie took a break from music to marry and begin a family. She wasn't able to stay away from her art for long, and in 2005 she released an album with jazz musician Paul Grabowsky called Before Time Could Change Us, a cycle of songs written by Dorothy Porter. Her next project was recording a solo album at Linear Studios in Sydney, which she did while pregnant with her second son. That album, Skin, was released in 2007.