Alison Chesley was born and raised in Los Angeles and has been playing the cello most of her life. She attended Northwestern University and received her master's in cello performance. She was working at an Evanston, IL, coffee shop when she met fellow employee
Jason Narducy; the two soon discovered their common love of music. They started playing in the Chicago area and released their debut, Woodshed, in October 1994. Eventually they added a drummer and bassist, changed their name to
Skinny, and then changed their name to Verbow to avoid legal complications with a British
Skinny. Verbow released an EP (
Holiday) and album (
Chronicles) in 1997. Besides playing in Verbow,
Chesley has played in recording sessions for
Bob Mould and
Susan Voelz. ~ Gina Boldman