Cardinale was born in Hammond, Louisiana to Agnes and Anthony Cardinale. In 1991, when she was six years old, she and her family moved to Ponchatoula, Louisiana. She has an older sister, Lori. She is a 2003 graduate of Ponchatoula High School, where she was a member of the advanced choir. During her run of American Idol, she was a radiology-major university student. In addition to singing, she also plays guitar, piano, drums, and the fiddle.