Lorna's singing career began by singing at weddings as part of a band called 'Bajaj and his Dance Band'. She began working as a compounder in a dentist's clinic, and was a victim of alcoholism before Ronnie Monserrate convinced her to start singing again in 1995. She remained unmarried because Perry also threatened possible suitors. This was because Perry would threaten and even strike anyone who would approach her to sing professionally again. However, following their breakup on her 27th birthday in 1973, she was unable to perform for nearly 23 years. Lorna admittingly was in an affair with an older married Goan musician, Chris Perry, while they were both working together. Her mother, Cecelia, died on 4 March 2002, a month after her 89th birthday. Lorna's father Teofilo, came from a family of musicians and he always encouraged his children in music and to speak Konkani at home. "My girl, one day you'll be a big singer," he'd often say. Lorna recalled how as a young girl another Parsi neighbour in Mumbai would clap and gift her four annas, whenever he heard her sing along with the radio. Nascimento Mascarenhas, their immediate neighbour in Goa, recalls being very impressed by the family's singing of Konkani hymns after the night Rosary. Lorna belongs to the Goan Catholic community Fr. Their ancestral house in Saligao is in Tabravaddo the family would often visit after they moved to Bombay.
Her sister Jean was also a crooner in a different band. Her siblings were Elvino, Albert, Jean, Oscar, Salvador and Clementine. Lorna was born in Saligao, Goa on 9 August 1944 to Cecelia and Teofilo Cordeiro, the third child born in a family of three boys and three girls. 2.2 Comeback and other projects (1995–present).