Fara was born on 21 May 1967 in the city of Korçë, then part of the People's Socialist Republic, present Albania.
She first came to prominence as a performer of the urban folk songs of her home region.
Albania had no record industry to speak of prior to the fall of Communism and as late as 1993 it was still only possible to buy cassette albums by a handful of artists - one of whom was Eli Fara.
She has spent much of the intervening period overseas but has remained very popular in her native country.
In recent years she has recorded more modern music although she still sings some of the folk songs from Korçë that first brought her to the attention of the Albanian public.