Elena Gheorghe was born in Bucharest to the family of an Aromanian priest, Gheorghe Gheorghe. Many of her ancestors were Orthodox priests. She has a sister, Ana, who is a journalist and a brother, Costin, former footballer. Her mother, Mărioara Gheorghe is a folk artist. Gheorghe debuted on the folk music scene when she was just three years of age with the song Sus în Deal în Poieniţă. At age 11 she joined the Children’s National Palace where she took singing lessons. In 2000 she won the gold trophy Little Bear (in Baia Mare) with One Moment In Time by Whitney Houston. In 2001 she participated in the Mamaia Festival.
Gheorghe started singing with Mandinga, a very successful band in the Latino genre in early 2003. In June that year, Mandinga released their first album – …De Corazón. Mandinga was placed 4th in the Romanian National Eurovision Selection in March 2005 with the song My Sun which was awarded a golden disc one year later. In January 2006, she opened her own dance school called Passitos and a month later ended the collaboration with Mandinga, starting her solo career with the help of musical producer Laurenţiu Duţă.
