Elena Jane Goulding was born in Hereford and raised in Lyonshall, a small village near Kington, Herefordshire, the second of four children (she has a brother and two sisters).[10][11][12] Her mother, Tracey (née Clark), used to work at a supermarket, and her father, Arthur Goulding, came from a "family of undertakers".[12] At age five, her parents separated, and she had a stepfather who was a lorry driver.[13] At age nine she began playing the clarinet, and at fourteen began learning guitar. She attended Lady Hawkins' High School in Kington, where she won a lead part in a school production, the Wizard of Oz, as the scarecrow. At the age of fifteen, she started song writing and while in college she entered a singing competition and won.[14]