Yelizaveta Nikolayevna Kedrova was born in Petrograd, Russia Empire. Her parents were Russian opera singers. Her father, Nikolay Kedrov Sr. (1871–1940), was a singer and composer, a creator of the first Russian male quartet to perform liturgical chants. Her mother, Sofia Gladkaya (ru: Софья Николаевна Гладкая), was a singer at the Mariinsky Theatre and a teacher at the Conservatoire de Paris. Kedrova's brother Nikolay Kedrov Jr. (c. 1904–1981) was a Russian singer and composer of liturgical music. Her sister, Irene Kedroff (Irina Nikolayevna Kedrova), was a soprano.