Thomas Nartker was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio. He attended grade school and high school there, and then attended the University of Dayton. He majored in chemical engineering. By the time Nartker was a sophomore in college, He had already been accepted for graduate study at the University of Tennessee.

Ernie Hensley III was born March 14, 1940 to parents Ernest W. Hensley Jr. and Gladys Barbara Hensley. He was raised in Washington, D.C. At the age of seven, he found a saxophone in his grandmother’s attic and embarked on his musical journey. He took lessons at the Modern School of Music in D.C., acquiring proficiency with the clarinet and the flute through long hours of practice. Hensley attended a historically black school, Armstrong High School, until he was transferred to McKinley High School in 1954, following the Brown v. Board of Education ruling.