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Mark Hummel was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and grew up in Los Angeles, California. Hummel and his family lived for a time in Aliso Village, a housing project in East Los Angeles that was demolished in 1999.[1] As Hummel explains in his forthcoming autobiography, his parents hired Mexican babysitters who often played R&B and soul music on the radio when they cared for him. It was through these babysitters that Hummel was first introduced to black music. Early on, he was also drawn to the music of Jimmy Reed and Slim Harpo.[2] Hummel did not start playing harmonica seriously until high school, and by the age of sixteen he was already playing in bands.[3]