Rosnes is a Canadian Native, born in Regina, Saskatchewan, and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia. She began piano lessons when she was three and was soon recognized as a very gifted performer and composer. She continued her studies at the University of Toronto, and now lives in New York. Initially she was trained as a classical musician but has made jazz her career.
She records for Blue Note and Capitol, beginning in 1990, and her albums include Renee Rosnes, Free Trade, For the Moment, Without Words, As We Are Now and Ancestors.
She has won the Juno Award three times (1992, 1994 and 1996) and the Jazz Report Award in 1995.
In 1994 she met her birth mother, Mohindar, after a long search, and three months later her adoptive mother died.