Alice was born in Munich, Germany, in 1988. His mother was Japanese and had studied piano in Tokyo; his father was a German civil engineer. Alice says that since she was a child she realized that "music was a language that went far beyond words" and that she wanted to communicate and express herself through music.

Alice started piano lessons at the age of four. At age five, she reached the final stage of the youth competition in Munich, playing to a full house in the Herkulessaal, München. At age seven, she won the Jugend musiziert competition in Germany. In 2002, Ott was the youngest finalist at the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan, where she won the Most Promising Artist award. From the age of twelve, she studied at the Mozarteum, Salzburg with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling while continuing her school education in Munich.

Alice signed a contract with Deutsche Grammophon in 2008.