Fatma Mukhtarova was born in Urmia, northwestern Persia (now West Azerbaijan province, Iran) to a Persian[3] or Iranian Azeri[4] father Abbas Rzayev and a Lipka Tatar mother Sara Chaseniewicz.

In 1901, Mukhtarova's father, a street singer, died of tuberculosis at the age of 28 and her mother married organ-grinder, Sattar Mukhtarov, also an immigrant from Persia.

But Mukhtarova felt she was treated like a servant in her teacher's home, who was only allowed to the master's table when guests from "high society" were visiting and needed to be entertained by her singing.

Offended by this treatment, Mukhtarova left Kamensky's estate and continued to give charitable concerts in cities and towns of the Saratov Governorate, saving money for her future music education, as suggested by Arkhangelsky.

She accepted an offer to work for the Zimin Opera where she performed alongside Shalyapin in Boris Godunov and began rehearsals for Carmen which would later become her most outstanding role.

During the 1924 tour in Baku, Georgii Nelepp acting as Jose accidentally thrust a knife into Mukhtarova's back three centimetres deep.