Googoosh was born in 1950 in Tehran. Her legal name was Faegheh Atashin, but she was called "Googoosh" from birth. She began singing and acting at a young age, performing with her father, an entertainer, when she was a toddler and making her first film at age seven.

In the 1970s Googoosh was at the height of her film and music career and was widely emulated by Iranian women; in addition to listening to her music, they copied her clothing (miniskirts) and her short haircut (the "Googooshy"). The 1979 revolution, however, brought a number of cultural restrictions; women were no longer allowed to sing in public, and pop music was banned completely. Most performers chose to leave the country rather than be silenced, but Googoosh, who was visiting the United States at the time of the revolution, elected to return home within a few months despite the possibility of persecution or even execution. She was jailed briefly but was not harmed. After her release she led a sheltered life, reportedly spending much of her time indoors. In the decades in which Googoosh was publicly silent, her music was not. Bootleg recordings and videos were readily available in Iran, and many found their way into the hands of the younger generation. Googoosh acquired a number of fans among those who had never had the freedom to purchase one of her CDs legally or hear her perform live.

Following the election of Pres. Mohammad Khatami in 1997, many restrictions began to be lifted. Some women (Googoosh was not among them) were once again allowed to sing in public to all-female audiences, and, while distributing pop music was still officially illegal, possession of it was allowed. Googoosh finally was granted a passport and allowed to leave the country for the first time since the revolution, and she made plans to tour and to work on a film with her husband, director Masud Kimiai. Islamic fundamentalists, however, vehemently opposed the tour, and it remained to be seen whether she would ever again be able to perform for fans in her native country.