Janet Baker was born in Hatfield, South Yorkshire in the north of England. Her father was an engineer who sang in a male voice choir. She went to York College for Girls and then Wintringham Girls' Grammar School in Grimsby. In her early years she worked in a bank. She went to London in 1953 where she had singing lessons from Meriel St Clair and Helene Isepp, whose son Martin became her regular accompanist. She was knocked down by a bus in 1956 and had concussion and a back injury which often gave her pain. That same year, she came second in the Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Competition at the Wigmore Hall, which started to make her famous.