Cheb Mami made his first official public appearance at the First Oran Raï Festival in 1985, which marked the official recognition of the genre by the Algerian authorities. Before that, he had released cassettes through the Oran label. Every cassette sold between 100.000 and 500.000 copies.

As well as recording many straight raï songs, Cheb Mami has achieved crossover success with the hip-hop remix of his track Parisien Du Nord on his album Meli Meli and also with the backing vocals on Sting's hit Desert Rose.

Cheb Mami's most famous work is "Desert Rose", a duet with Sting. It went rocketing to the top of singles charts around the world, fulfilling Mami's long-held dream of internationalising Raï sounds.