Ragnar Kvaran was born in northern Iceland. When he was seven the family moved to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and stayed for thirteen years. He spent some of that time in a south Indian boarding school run by missionaries. When he came to the United States, he drifted for about five years through Colorado, Tennessee, Minnesota, and Michigan, living in basements and attics. After coasting into Michigan, he settled (if that's the word) into life in a rock and roll band playing one-nighters in bars. He has, along the way, been employed as a bellhop, nursing-home orderly, and warehouseman.