Ajram was born in Ashrafiyeh, Lebanon on May 16th, 1983. She started singing at the age of eight, when she appeared for the first time in 1991 at a singing contest for kids on national television in Lebanon. In 1995, at the age of twelve, Nancy Ajram took part in the entertainment show, Noujoum Al-Moustakbal, ("Stars of the Future"), a Lebanese television musical competition, winning a gold medal in the Tarab category after singing a song by Umm Kulthum.