Margo Guryan grew up in New York City in the neighborhood of Far Rockaway, Queens. Her parents met at Cornell University, where her mother majored in piano, and her father, also a keen pianist, in liberal arts. Guryan wrote poems from an early age, and moved on to writing songs soon after being introduced to the piano in childhood. Initially interested in the popular music of the time, as well as the classical music she was studying, Guryan became interested in jazz at college. She studied classical and jazz piano at Boston University, idolizing musicians such as Max Roach and Bill Evans, and switched from piano to composition in her sophomore year in order to avoid performing.