Gregory Page was born and grew up in North London. He was a shy, quiet boy, fond of his grandfathers 78 RPM record collection. At fourteen he went to America, and for the next 5 years he wrote poetry and learned to play the guitar. There he began to doubt himself and his work. A rebuff from a girl he loved was the starting point of his despair. Writing about this wretched world and finding some consolation in his clumsy efforts to represent what he saw and felt, he resolved at twenty-seven, after a period of wandering and depressing uncertainty, to become a songwriter. He thought this was his only means of salvation, a solitary and pure activity in which he would be free, responsible for himself alone, and yet might create a work that would give joy and understanding to others.