Satinder Sartaaj was born in Bajrawar village of Hoshiarpur, Punjab. He did his schooling from the government schools in his village and the nearby villages Chabewal and Patti. He started performing on children's stages by the time he was in class 3. After that, he joined Government College, Hoshiarpur to complete his graduation in Music with Honours. He also joined Sangeet Visharad, a five-year diploma in classical music from Jalandhar.

Satinder Sartaj concentrated on his sufiana musical career having done his M. Phil in Sufi music singing and later a Ph.D in Sufi singing (gayan) from Punjab University, Chandigarh. Satinder also completed a Certificate Course and Diploma in Persian language. It was in college, when he also started writing poetry and adopted his Takhallus (poetic name) Sartaaj. He got married on 9 December 2010.