Elissar Zakaria Khoury (Arabic: إليسار زكريا خوري; born October 27, 1972), commonly known as Elissa (إليسا), is a Lebanese singer who is one of Lebanon's most famous singers and one of the best known artists in the Arab world.
She has been the highest-selling female Middle Eastern artist since 2005. In 2005, 2006 and 2010 she received the World Music Award for Best Selling Middle Eastern Artist and became first Lebanese singer to receive the World Music Award for Best Selling Middle Eastern Artist in 2005. She has currently sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Elissa is also one of the richest celebrities in Lebanon, with a reported estimated wealth of over $40 million. As of 2017, Elissa has over 44 million followers on social media.
Elissa's musical career began in 1992, when she won the silver medal in Studio El Fan, a Lebanese music competition.
Elissa's first studio album, Baddi Doub (I Want to Melt), was released by EMI Records in 1999. For the album’s hit single, she included a second language by teaming up with Spanish singer, Gerard Ferrer. In the same year, Elissa got her first big brand deal when shampoo brand Head & Shoulders took her on as the empowering and bold face of the company in the Middle East.
In 2018, Elissa appeared as a judge on The Voice Ahla Sawt, the Middle Eastern edition of The Voice.