Hélène Ségara was born Hélène Rizzo on February 26, 1971 in Six-Fours-les-Plages in her grandfather's farm. Her father is Italian and her mother Armenian. She said that she had been traumatized in her childhood by the divorce of her parents when she was 8, and by the death of her grandfather when she was 16. As she wanted to become a singer, she left school and family at the age of 14. Then she had many successive jobs including performances in the piano bars of the French Riviera. At 18, she gave birth to Raphael, her first son. Her repertoire was expanding, with many musical influences. In 1993, a first single entitled "Loin" was released, but didn't meet success.

In 1996, accompanied by her young son, she moved to Paris where she met Christian Loigerot, who became one of her composers. She also met the famous producer Orlando who supervised and gave new impetus to her career. Although she was marked by the experience and professionalism of this mentor, she remained under contract with her first producer.

Ségara began to have success with "Je vous aime adieu", the first single from her debut album, Cœur de verre (1996), and the duet "Vivo per lei", performed with Andrea Bocelli. She then played the role of Esmeralda in the musical Notre-Dame de Paris, composed by Richard Cocciante. While she was auditioned for this role in 1997, she was selected in 1999, following the withdrawal of the Israeli singer Noa. "When the fate knocks at the door for a second time, we must not let it get away", said Ségara.

However, her career was jeopardized when Dr. J. Abitbol diagnosed her with a cyst on the vocal cords, while she continued to perform. During a show in Canada, she lost her voice. Dr. J. Abitbol carried out a laser operation to treat the singer's vocal cords. After her convalescence, she recorded her second album, Au Nom d'une femme in 2000. The album topped the charts, and became Diamond disc. Five singles from this album were all successful. Ségara then began a concert tour that lasted about two years.

In March 2003 was released a third album, Humaine, including "On n'oublie jamais, on vit avec", a duet with Laura Pausiniand "L'Amour est un soleil", composed by Romano Musumarra. About 700,000 copies of this album were sold. She started another tour in late 2003 but was forced to stop her performances because of a difficult pregnancy.

Her fourth studio album, Quand l'éternité... came out in 2006. The first single from this album was "Méfie-toi de moi", followed by "Rien n'est comme avant". This album has a different style from the previous ones, with more pronounced rock influences, texts almost all composed by the singer, and addresses issues such as the absence, death and hope. The album eventually achieved gold status three months after its release for more than 200,000 copies sold.