[1] Originally from Uruguay, Medeiros moved to Paris, France, at the age of 14, dropped out of high school a couple of years later and joined the punk band Stinky Toys.

Together they released several albums, one of them the soundtrack to an Éric Rohmer film Les nuits de la pleine lune.

The songs, "Toi mon toit" (1986) and "A bailar calypso" (1987), were big hits in France and had a more Latin sound than her previous records.

She sang back-up vocals on several of pop star Etienne Daho's songs from his 1996 album Eden.

Elli Medeiros appears in a number of French films and has worked with, among others, Olivier Assayas and Philippe Garrel.