Rieckermann was born in Lübeck, Schleswig-Holstein, in Germany. In her early years she felt in love with jazz music and saw her brother Ralph Rieckermann, guitarist for the German group "The Scorpions", playing the guitar at home. At the age of sixteen she saw saxophonist David Sanborn on a concert and knew the saxophone was her instrument. Rieckermann studied a year in France, alto saxophone at the Yamaha Music School in Hamburg, and at the Berkelee College of Music in Germany before she moved to Los Angeles and expanded her experiences.