Born in Florence, Grandi started singing while at high school, and was part of numerous local groups, notably Matte in Trasferta, in which Dirotta su Cuba singer Simona Bencini was a bandmate.

[3] She started her solo career in 1992, and in 1994 entered the competition in the Newcomers' section of Sanremo Music Festival 1994 with "Fuori", leading single of her first album, Irene Grandi, that contained songs written with Eros Ramazzotti ("Sposati subito") and Jovanotti ("T.V.B.").

[3] In 1997, she Per fortuna purtroppo, containing the hit "Che vita è", and in 1999 Verde rosso e blu, an album characterized by more Mediterranean sounds".

In 2000, she ranked second in 50th Sanremo Festival with "La tua ragazza sempre", a song written by Vasco Rossi and Gaetano Curreri, who also wrote and produced the title-track for her following album Prima di partire.

[3][4] She performed lead vocals on the song "Blue", the closing track on French producer Hector Zazou's 2003 album Strong Currents.