In 1991, Scabbia began singing professionally as a touring musician for other bands and providing backing vocals. Later that year, she met male vocalist Andrea Ferro and bass player Marco Coti Zelati (who would be the future two of Lacuna Coil's founding members) in Milan's Midnight Club. At the time their band was named Ethereal, and Scabbia was initially employed only as a session singer. She was asked to record backup vocals for the choruses of their demo tape, but the band members liked the way the male and female vocals sounded together, and they asked her to be a permanent member. After several changes in the band's line-up, the members were reduced to Ferro, Coti Zelati and Scabbia. The band then recorded a two-track demo in May 1996, and it was soon signed by the German branch of Century Media Records, eventually joining with the American branch of the label. Once signed, the band changed their name to Lacuna Coil after learning that a Greek band signed to Century Media had already claimed the name Ethereal. Adding new band members, Lacuna Coil began to tour, releasing their first EP at the beginning of 1998. She performed many live gigs with bands like Megadeth and Apocalyptica, she also sang at Festival di Sanremo, that is probably the most important pop festival in Italy, with the singer L'Aura.