Ayllón adopted the stage "Eva" from her maternal grandmother, Eva, who began teaching the young María music at an early age. As a child and teen, Eva Ayllón sang in school competitions and later on television and radio. Throughout the early 1970s, Eva appeared in many música criolla musical groups such as Rinconcito Monsefuano, La peña de los Ugarte, Los Mundialistas o Callejón and Los Kipus. By 1975, Eva began to pursue a solo singing career, touring internationally by 1979.