Her real name Elissar Zakaria Khoury, Elissa is a Lebanese artist born to a Lebanese father and a Syrian mother, in Deir al Ahmar, on October 27, 1972. She studied political science at the Lebanese University. When she was 10 years old she participated in the kids’ festival at Mont La Salle.
Her first steps in the artistic world consisted in acting in theatre plays of political critique, at the age of 16 years old. She first collaborated with the well-known chansonnier Wassim Tabbara, then, two years later with the "Theatre de 10 heures". Her theatrical beginnings encouraged her to move on to singing. In 1992, she took part in the TV show "Studio Al fan" and won a silver medal.
After that, she started performing in concerts until 1999 when she released her first album "Baddi Doub". The album was successful and featured a hit with French gipsy artist Gerard Ferrer. In 2000, she released her second album "We Akhertha Maak", which included a duet "Betghib Betrouh" with Ragheb Alama. Elissas’s third album "Ayshalak" was a huge success and surpassed her first two albums.
Her fourth album "Ahla Donia" released in 2004 broke all sales records in the Middle East. Elissa won the World Music award for this album. In 2006, Elissa released her fifth album "bastanak", another successful album which confirmed Elissa’s status as one of the best female artists in the Middle East. The album made her win,for the second year in a row,the World Music award.
In 2007, a sixth album "Ayami Beek" followed. It was number one for more than 3 months. Elissa released a seventh album "Tesadaa Bemeen", in 2009. It sold more than 750.000 copies around the Middle East. Throughout her career Elissa won several awards including: the Murex D’Or for being the first Lebanese to receive the World Music Award 2005, the Best female artist of the year in 2005, two World Music Awards for best-selling artist in the Middle East in 2005 and 2006.