Zarifa Pashaevna Mgoyan

She was born in Leningrad to a Yezidi-Kurdish family. Her father, Pasha Binbashievich Mgoyan, a Candidate of Sciences in Physics and Mathematics, is employed in the machine building industry, and her mother, Nadi Djamаlovna Mgoyan, is a housewife. Her parents were born in Leninakan, Armenia. Zara also has an elder sister Liana and a younger brother Roman.

Zara attended secondary school No. 2 in Otradnoye, Kirovsky District, Leningrad Oblast. In 2000, she graduated from Gymnasium No. 56 in Saint Petersburg with a silver medal. Alongside her secondary school studies, she graduated from a children's music school with honors, specializing in piano.In 1995, at the age of 12, Zara met musician and composer Oleg Kvasha, and in 1996, they recorded the songs "The Heart of Juliette", "Just Today", "Right Now…" and "Lullaby (Bye-Bye-Bye)", which got rotations on radio stations, and brought the first fame to the singer.

In 1997, at the age of 14, Zara became a finalist of the Morning Star TV contest (Moscow) with "The Heart of Juliette", and won the Grand Prix of the Let the Children Laugh International Festival (Cairo and Port Said, Egypt).

In 1998, she won the Grand Prix of The Hopes of Siberia contest (Omsk), the Birthday open contest for new children's song performers, and The Hit of the Year International TV Contest (both in Saint Petersburg). For two years running, Zara received the First Class Diploma and the Grand Prix at The Hopes of Europe contest (Sochi); in 1999, at the Voices-1999 festival in Sochi she got the "People's Choice Award".

In 2004, she graduated from the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts. During her studies, Zara acted in "The Voices of the Age Gone By", "The Idiot", and "Heavenly Swallows" plays on the stage of the Student Theater on Mokhovaya Street.

In 2006, the singer made it to the final of the Fabrika Zvyozd on Channel One Russia, which was produced by Victor Drobysh, and in 2009 she was a finalist of the Two Stars project, where her duet with the Honored Artist of Russia, actor Dmitry Pevtsov, won second place. In 2010, Zara took part in the Ice and Fire ice show (Channel One Russia) together with the Olympic champion in figure skating Anton Sikharulidze.

In March 2011, she took part in the Star Factory. Return project.

Since early 2015, Zara is a permanent judge on the New Star all-Russian TV song contest which is held on TV channel Zvezda with the support of the Ministry of Defence (Russia).

On 24 November 2016, she held a solo concert at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow dedicated to the 20th anniversary of her artistic career. She sang: war songs, classical romances, folk songs, international and Russian pop hits. Nikolay Baskov, Stas Mikhailov, Dmitry Pevtsov, Victor Drobysh, and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, with whom Zara sang La Grande Storia duet, also took part in the event. The new "Millimeters" album was released for this concert.

On 9 June 2017, Zara and Andrea Bocelli received a special award of MUZ-TV Music Awards – "The best international duet". Very soon the singer invited by Bocelli, performed at his annual concert "Il canto della terra" on the stage of Teatro del Silenzio in Toskana, where she sang "Dle Yaman", and then she took part in Bocelli's Gala concert Celebrity Fight Night in the Roman Colosseum.

At Zara's solo concert in the State Kremlin Palace on 14 October 2017, French singer Mireille Mathieu performed; together they sang a song "Under the Paris sky". For the first time, Zara and Mireille Mathieu sang together at the Spasskaya Tower Military Music Festival and Tattoo in 2016 and 2017. Also, they performed at the Zara's solo concert in the UNESCO headquarters in Paris on 4 December 2017.