Ciara was born in Austin, Texas October 25, 1985. She is the only child of Carlton and Jackie Harris. She is of Creole, German, and Irish heritage. Due to her father being in the United States Army she grew up on army bases in Germany, New York, Utah, California, Arizona, and Nevada. During her teens, Ciara and her family settled in Atlanta. Ciara said that watching Destiny's Child perform on a television program while staying home from school inspired her to pursue a career in music. Later on, Ciara would join a girl group called Hearsay and worked on her songwriting. The group recorded demos, but began to have differences. Eventually, she left the group, got a publishing deal, and found a "musical soul mate" when she met producer Jazze Pha. Ciara graduated from Riverdale High School in Riverdale, Georgia in 2003 and was signed by LaFace Records executive L.A. Reid with the help of Jazze Pha. She began production on her debut album. Ciara co-wrote a demo with songwriter Sean Garrett, who was co-writer of Usher's international hit "Yeah!". She made the hit song Get Up for the soundtrack of the movie Step Up, which was a big success.