Usnija Redžepova was born on 4 February 1946 in Skopje, then in the People's Republic of Macedonia, part of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. Today the city of Skopje is the capital of North Macedonia. Her parents were both from ethnic minorities: her father Jašar was Romani and her mother Sabrina Turkish. Her father had already been married once, but as his wife could not have children, he remarried Usnija's mother. Sabrina already had two children from a previous marriage and she had four other children with Jašar, including Usnija. Both her parents were Muslims. At the start of her career, Usnija Redžepova put an emphasis on her Turkish heritage to minimise her Romani roots, although she never hid them as many Roma artists did at that time to avoid racism.
