By age 17, she was touring with the best Bossa Nova composers and interpreters the world had to offer, composing her own pieces and performing at jazz dubs regularly. It was during this period she was befriended by jazz bassist Eddie Gomez and encouraged to come to New York City where she could showcase her incredible talent to the world.

Eliane moved to New York in 1981 and studied privately with Olegna Fuschi at the Julliard School of Music, eventually joining jazz 'supergroup' Steps Ahead (whose members included Gomez, Michael Brecker, Peter Ersta'ne and Mike Mainieri).

Signed to Blue Note Records in 1986, after releasing her debut album Amanda (named after her daughter), Eliane would ultimately become the label's most prolific and enduring artist, delivering 15 albums, mostly instrumental - a great deal of them topping Billboard's Jazz charts, including 1995's Grammy nominated Solos & Duets,
featuring Herbie Hancock, and 1998's vocal turning-point, Sings Jobim her first full-length foray into the vocal arena (and a follow-up to her earlier ode to the master, Eliane Elias Plays Jobim).

Eliane signed with RCA/Bluebird Jazz in 2002, releasing the sultry Kissed by Nature. 2004's Dreamer was her second album for the new label, and a wake-up call to fans that Eliane's vocal adventures were just beginning. "Once I began singing more, fans would actually come up to me afterwards and ask me to please sing more in future shows. I also began to realize there was a technical side to it as fascinating as the piano. What I loved about working on Around The City is that there are songs where I stretch my abilities with both playing and singing."

Around the City (2006) finds her backed by Randy Brecker. Marc Johnson, Oscar-Castro Neves, Paulo Braga. Paulinho da Costa and many more.