Touré was born in 1939 in the village of Kanau, on the banks of the Niger River in Gourma-Rharous Cercle in the northwestern Malian region of Tombouctou.

[10] Having worked various jobs as a young adult including as a chauffeur and an ambulance boatman, it was a performance by the national ballet of Guinea in 1956 that would influence Touré to pursue a career in music.

It was during this trip that he bought his first guitar, and it was also the first time that he heard the music that was being produced by African Americans in the United States during the 1960s, of which Touré instantly became a fan.

He usually sang in one of several African languages, mostly Songhay, Fulfulde, Tamasheq or Bambara[8] as on his breakthrough album, Ali Farka Touré, which established his reputation in the world music community.

The first few of these albums included some interesting collaborations such as with Seán Keane and Kevin Conneff of The Chieftains on The River in 1990 and Nitin Sawhney and the American blues player Taj Mahal on The Source in 1992.

[14] Cooder later recalled how Touré didn't like recording the album in the Hollywood studio and described it as a place of ‘bad energy’ and The USA in general as a ‘spiritual car park’.

In 2002 Touré appeared with Black American blues and reggae performer Corey Harris, on an album called Mississippi to Mali (Rounder Records).

Toure and Harris also appeared together in Martin Scorsese's 2003 documentary film Feel Like Going Home,[16] which traced the roots of blues back to its genesis in West Africa.

He was very supportive of director Manny Ansar's idea to move Festival au Désert to Timbuktu, after its first two years in the Kidal region of Mali.

It was received with wide acclaim by professionals and fans alike and was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category "Best Contemporary World Music Album".

[21] In 2004 Touré became mayor of Niafunké and spent his own money grading the roads, putting in sewer canals and fuelling a generator that provided the impoverished town with electricity.

[8] On 6 March 2006, the Ministry of Culture of Mali announced Touré's death at age 66 in Bamako from bone cancer, which he had been battling for some time.

[16] For instance, his guitar riff on the song "Diaraby", from the album Talking Timbuktu, was selected for the Geo-quiz segment of The World PRI-BBC program, and was retained by popular demand when put to a vote of the listeners.

His songs Cinquante six, Goye Kur and Hawa Dolo from the album The Source are also used as a soundtrack in the French film Fin août, début septembre (Late August, Early September) directed in 1998 by Olivier Assayas.