M S Lavanya is the daughter of Smt. Girija Sainath and Mridangam artiste Sri. M R Sainath, a staff artist, All India Radio, Mangalore. She started learning vocal music under Sangeetha Vidhushi Smt. Nagaveni of Mangalore. At the age of 15, she started learning Saxophone from Padmasri Dr. Kadri Gopalnath. She continued her higher training where Sri. Gopalnath stayed. Her recordings of music are available on cassettes and CDs.