 Named after the nearby city of Winona, she was given her middle name, Laura, because of her parents'friendship with Laura Huxley, writer Aldous Huxley's wife. Her stage name derives from Mitch Ryder, a soul and rock singer of whom her father was a fan. Ryder's father is an atheist and her mother is a Buddhist; they encouraged their children to take the best part of other religions and use them to make their own belief systems.
