Aster was born around 1960 in Gondor, Ethiopia but grew up in Addis Ababa and soon got a deep love for singing. As a teenager she sang at Hager Fikir Theatre then  later sang in other clubs too. By 1977 she had sung with various groups and went on to record several albums on cassette in Ethiopia singing solo. Aster joined the Roha Band briefly in 1978 before going to USA in 1979. Her purpose was to pursue her education but her friends persuaded her to continue singing and she is still based there now, in Los Angeles. 
Aster gained immense popularity with the Ethiopian community in USA as for many years she starred four nights a week at a night club in Washington DC. She also remains very popular in Ethiopia as evidenced by over 50,000 fans who attended her performance in Addis Ababa in 1997. She causes a stir in other places too - take an already full house at Ronnie Scott's in London in 1989 at Aster's first UK performance and you get a large crowd causing a road block outside as they try to get an ear