Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, Haring grew up in Kutztown with his mom, Joan Haring, and his father Allen Haring, a cartoonist. He also had three younger sisters, Kay, Karen and Kristen. Keith's parents wanted to name all their children with names that started with K. Keith was interested in art from an early age. From 1976 to 1978 he studied commercial art at The Ivy School of Professional Art, an art school in Pittsburgh. He soon lost interest of commercial art, and moved on to study Fine Arts.