JoJo was born in Brattleboro, Vermont, but raised in Keene, New Hampshire, and Foxborough, Massachusetts. She has Irish, Polish and French ancestry. She grew up in a one-bedroom apartment in Foxborough in a low-income family. Her father, Joel Maurice Levesque (January 8, 1955–November 14, 2015), sang as a hobby, and her mother, Diana Levesque (née Blagden) sang in a Catholic church choir and was trained in musical theater. JoJo's parents divorced when she was four years old, and she was raised as an only child by her mother. JoJo's stage name comes from a childhood nickname.