Edwards was a long-term foster child. She (aged three months) and her two sisters went into care when their mother was hospitalized with a mental illness, and stayed with their foster family in East Ham, London, until they grew up. "They brought us up, they were good to us and were parents to us .... I consider them my real family."
She graduated from the London College of Fashion in 1995, but has sung with the trip-hop/funk/hip-hop band Morcheeba since then. They have released two albums: Big Calm and Who Can You Trust?
She has no contact with her birth mother.