Born on November 12th, 1959 in Urbana, Illinois, U.S.A. In 1960 she moved to Los Alamitos in California. she began playing the violin at age 8. In her youth she attended courses and exceeded in leather working, ceramics, and batik.

At California State University in Long Beach she pursued wood carving, technical drawing, design and furniture construction. She played in the orchestra of the University. In 1979 she settled in Florence. From 1979 to 1981 she attended the International University of Art in restoration of fine art, under the teachers: Umberto Baldini, Antonio Paolucci, Ornella Casazza, Carlo Ragghianti, etc. and graduated with a masters in restoration. From 1981 to 1985, she moved to Cremona to study at the prestigious School of Violin Making in Cremona. She graduated in violin making under the Maestro Giorgio Scolari. In 1987 she opened her own studio in the historic center of Florence, where she builds and restores instruments.

In 1993 the great soloist, Itzhak Perlman, violin ordered a "Lazzara" which was built by copying every detail from the original Stradivari "Soil" made in 1714.

The great film director Ridley Scott, chose her shop to film a scene from the film "Hannibal" with Anthony Hopkins (the scene you see on the CD "Special Features").

Ever since opening her shop, Jamie Lazzara has been the subject of hundreds of interviews from newspapers and television around the world: (USA,England, Sweden, Holland, Germany, Canada, Israel, Italy). On December 31st,2009 her story was broadcast on Public Radio International the interview was conducted by Laura Lynch (CNN, PRI) for a radio show entitled "The World".

Although it was founded recently, her studio is considered a historical store as Jamie Lazzara practices her craft with great skill and spirit of tradition, working entirely by hand.

On March 25, 2010 she was honoured with a prestigious award, sponsored by UNESCO, from the Society of St. John the Baptist (Societa' di S. Giovanni Battista), which recognizes the excellence of her work, which has been commissioned by the greatest artists from around the world.

Indeed, she has built instruments for the most prestigious musicians of our time: Itzhak Perlman (who played the violin, "Lazzara" during the big concert for the inauguration of President Obama on January 20, 2009), Sarn Oliver (who recorded the soundtrack the movie "Mars Attacks" and the third episode of "Star Wars" with a violin, "Lazzara", Luca Di Volo (for which she has built a "Angels Trompet" inspired by an ancient instrument, the "Tromba Marina"), Micha Molthoff, Arjen de Graaf, Giovanni Prosdocimi, Emanuele Parrini, Jacopo Martini, Tommaso Papini, Maurizio Geri, Leonardo Boni, Gianna Nannini, Gianluca Venier (Litfiba) and a violin for the United States President Barack Obama.

She has recently discovered to have been mentioned in the book: "The Power of Kindness" by Piero Ferrucci (Preface by the Dalai Lama) 2004. Over the years she has been active playing Italian folk music, mainly being the violinist of the legendary Caterina Bueno, from 1994-2007. She collaborates with other groups: "La tazza d'Arianna", "Radici con le ali", Massimo Presciutti, "I Malarmati"etc. She has recorded for: "A Toys Orchestra" and "Verde Matematico". Video of Jamie Marie Lazzara instruments.