Mayssa Karaa, born Mayssa in 1989 in Beirut, Lebanon, is an American-Lebanese singer-songwriter. She began singing at age seven and studied vocal performance at the Conservatory of Beirut. In 2006, she moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where she initially pursued civil engineering before enrolling at Berklee College of Music in 2008. Karaa's breakthrough came with her Arabic version of "White Rabbit" on the American Hustle soundtrack (released by Sony Classical in 2013), which earned critical acclaim and was nominated for a Grammy Award as Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media in 2015. She performed this song at various film premieres, including the Dubai International Film Festival. In 2014, she received Lebanon's National Cultural Award from Minister Gaby Layoun. Karaa launched her first single, "Call Me a Stranger," and music video from her full-length English solo debut Simple Cure in 2019.
