She was born as Varon Cohen in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 1972. Her mother was a housewife and father was personal secretary to a local judge. She was the youngest child and she was also close to her mother. She was very creative from beginning she started singing and performing in her early childhood only. Her eagerness gave her the opportunity to work in Cameri theatre's production. The most important factor which inspired her to become a singer was the fame of Israeli diva Ofra Haza's performances, who was suppose to be the pride for the Israelites.

Dana International born genetically male, she came to realize, that her identity was that of a female. She did sex reassignment surgery in London in 1993, and then she was called Sharon Cohen, a feminine synonym to Varon.

Dana International was Sharon's stage name. Her first hit song was a remake of Whitney Houston's "My Name Is Not Susan" and the words was "My Name Is Not Saida". It got critically acclaimed in radio airplay. Soon she released her first album, Dana International, in Israel and it distributed in Middle East countries like Egypt and Jordan. This is how she received the name and fame both in very quick succession. Her second album was released, Umpatampa in 1994, song "Lalya Tov, Eropa" , of the album was performed at the Distinguished Eurovision Song Contest in 1995. Controversies also emerged together with the success in Egypt regarding Dana International was an agent of the Israeli Intelligence Organization. This levied banned from the country.

Success level goes on to skies heights, when in 1996 album Maganona released. It was grand success which increased the fan club from Europe to United States. In 1998, Dana International won the Top Slot for the song "Diva" in Eurovision Song Contest. Israeli won the contest twice before in 1978 and 1979. Dana also worked with Bee Gees tribute album named Gotta Get A Message To You which was released for free.