Lauren Fennelly Brown was born to Theora Jones Fennelly on November 7, 1984.
Her family could tell that young Lauren was musically gifted, and they signed her up for piano lessons at age five. She was a prodigy and soon played songs considered too difficult for someone so young.
When Lauren was seven years old, the only father she had ever known died after a tragic fall down the stairs. To cope with her grief, she devoted herself to her music and seldom socialized with her peers or communicated with anyone other than her mother and her teachers.
Shy and studious, Lauren was the first chair flutist in the high school orchestra and planned on applying to the famed Julliard School of Music to continue her education with hopes of pursuing a career as a professional musician.
While Lauren rarely dated, during her senior year, she started seeing a trombone player in the school orchestra named Gary Burnhart. Before they knew it, they were in love and daydreamed about their future together.
Lauren and Gary moved in together after high school while Lauren worked to save enough money to apply to Julliard. After a few months, Lauren was stunned to realize she was pregnant. Her plans of becoming a professional musician were over.
Devastated, Lauren packed away her music and refused to play the flute again. Instead, she went to work as a piano teacher in a music store, a job that allowed her to bring the baby to work with her every day.
The couple, who never married, found the trials of young parenthood severely tested their relationship, and before Katy was a year old, Gary left town without a word. Lauren was equally heartbroken and furious, but she vowed that Gary's betrayal would not ruin her life.
Lauren noticed Katy was drawn to the piano as a toddler, but she was shocked the day she found four-year-old Katy picking out tunes she had heard her mother play on one of the keyboards in the store. When she began to teach Katy, she discovered her daughter had a natural talent for the piano.
Lauren met Richard Brown when he signed up to take piano lessons from her. After a five-month courtship, they married and soon welcomed a son, Cody. Lauren also tried to teach Cody to play the piano, but he didn't have Katy's innate ability.
With young Katy's frequent recitals and the ensuing accolades, Lauren saw her musical performance dreams fulfilled, and she reveled in the ever-increasing number of trophies filling their living room shelves.
When Katy entered junior high, she wanted to become a cheerleader, which her mother reluctantly permitted as long as Katy continued her piano lessons. But by the time Katy started high school, she didn't want to play the piano anymore, which Lauren suspected the teenager was doing just to spite her.
Tensions grew at home as Lauren urged her daughter not to overlook her talent and pressured her to stop wasting her time on "a sport as silly and useless as cheerleading."
