Amr Diab
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Amr Diab | ||
|---|---|---|
 Amr Diab's 2005 Kammel Kalamak promotional Photo (2005).
|
||
| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Amr Abdel Basset Abdel Azeez Diab | |
| Born | October 11, 1961 | |
| Origin |  Port Said, Egypt |
|
| Genre(s) | Egyptian Music, Arabic Music, Pop | |
| Years active | 1983 - present | |
| Label(s) | Rotana | |
| Website | amrdiabworld.com | |
Amr Abdel Basset Abdul Azeez Diab (Arabic:عمرو عبد الباسط عبد العزيز دياب) is an Egyptian musician, born on October 11, 1961 in Port Said, Egypt. Known as Amr Diab, he is one of the most popular and successful singers in Egypt and the Middle East, who was also able to garner world renown. He is currently one of the richest of Arab singers and his personal wealth has exceeded $37 million.
Contents |
[edit] Early life
Amr Diab was born in Port Said, Egypt into an artistic family. His father, Abdul Basset Diab, worked for the Suez Canal Corporation where he was working as a well-known porter in the marina and part time sheep herder. He possessed a fine singing voice and encouraged the young Diab to sing and dance at the mawaled (street festivals) in this early age.
When Diab was just six years old, his father took him to the July 23 Festival at Port Said where they visited the local broadcasting station and Amr made his first singing appearance on Egyptian Radio performing the National Anthem Bilady, Bilady, Bilady. He was praised by the Governor of Port Said who awarded him with a guitar as a prize.
[edit] Career overview
In due course, Diab began his musical studies at the music faculty of the Cairo Academy of Art and from which he graduated in 1986. His first album "Ya Tareeq" followed shortly and was an instant success. There have been, since then, 16 top selling albums in a prolific recording career which has established him as the super-star of Egypt and the Arab world.
Diab has toured widely throughout his career organizing galas and performing concerts in Australia, Canada, Europe and the United States.
In 1990, Diab was chosen to represent Egypt at the 5th Tournament of African Sports where he sang in English and French as well as Egyptian Arabic. This concert was televised by satellite throughout the Arab world and highlighted on CNN. He became the first Egyptian artist to make a video clip and in a parallel career, has acted in several films including "Deahk We La'ab" (Laughter & Fun), a film which opened the Egyptian Film Festival in 1993. In this film, directed by Tarek Al Telmasani, Diab played opposite the world famous Egyptian actor Omar Sharif. In the film "Ice Cream fi Gleem" directed by Khairi Bishara, Diab played the role of the main hero.
The singer has already been the subject of three biographies – Amr Diab, the owner of my heart, The Rebellious and Amr Diab, Star of the 20th Century. He is nicknamed the Rebellious due to comparisons made with his contemporaries, in his clothes, hairstyling, the performance and execution of his music, the melodies he composes and his many appearances at parties.
Diab became known for the new 'style' of his music which people throughout the Middle East and the Mediterranean world came to call "Mediterranean Music" referring to its blend of Western and Middle Eastern/Egyptian rhythms. He was named, by most satellite and TV stations, as the Best Singer in the Arab World throughout the nineties and continually sets new sales records with successive album releases.
[edit] Nour el Ain
In 1996, "Nour El Ain" (Light of The Eye – Sight) was released, becoming a tremendous success not only in the Middle East but throughout the entire world. The title track, and its English version "Habibi", was an international phenomenon, becoming a massive crossover hit in countries such as Brazil, Pakistan, India, Iran, Afghanistan, Argentina, Chile, France and South Africa. The song was remixed by several top European arrangers and has become a big pull on the dance floors of Europe. The video clip, also produced by Alam El Phan for the song "Nour El Ain", was one of the most lavish and expensive productions in the field of Egyptian song, and set a new standard for his contemporaries to aspire to. "Nour El Ain" has become the best selling album ever released by an Arabic artist.
In 1997, Amr Hiba won three Awards at the Annual Arabic Festival (for Best Video, Best Song and Artist of the Year). In the following year, he received a Triple Platinum Award for the sales of "Nour El Ain", and received the Worldwide Music Award in Monaco on 6 May 1998, under the patronage of H.S.H. Albert II, Prince of Monaco, and attended by such International luminaries as Gloria Estefan, Céline Dion, Mariah Carey, The Backstreet Boys, Steven Segal and others. This award was the first of its kind for an Egyptian artist, emphasising that his appeal is not just confined to the Middle East unlike the majority of his contemporaries.
[edit] Awedooni
His follow-up studio album entitled "Awedooni" was released in July 1998, and as for "Nour El Ain" it was produced with Hamid El Shary and recorded in Cairo, Egypt. The first video from the album, the title track "Awedooni", was shot by the river Nile in Egypt and directed by Tareq Al Aryan. Like its predecessor, this album was a huge success for Amr and reinforced his popularity in the Arab world and abroad.
The "Best of Amr Diab" released in early 1999 contained a brand new song "Maham Kibirt Sugheir" recorded as a tribute to the Legends of Arabic music such as Umm Kulthum and Abdel Halim Hafez that have influenced him. A strong ballad with a spectacular video of the concert footage inspired by Puff Daddy (whom he met at the Monaco Awards) it became another big hit for Diab. The album also contains a previously unreleased European remix of Habibi, and the most popular songs from Amr's albums of the 1990s.
Diab released his July 1999 new studio album "Amarain", (two moons) which is hailed as the best work of his career to date. Amr is working on eagerly anticipated duets with the France based international Rai superstar, Khaled of "Didi" fame, and with the Greek singer, Angela Dimitrou, whose crossover smash "Marguerites" was a huge hit across the Middle East in 1998. The title track Amarain is the first video to be broadcast and the album seems certain to confirm Amr's position as the leading and most innovative artist from the Middle East.
[edit] Aktar Wahed
On 1 August 2001, and after a great anticipation by the huge number of fans, "Aktar Wahed" was released. The album's name is a short for one of the songs "Aktar Wahed Beyhebbak". It contains 10 tracks and a bonus oriental remix for the song "Wala Ala Balo". "Wala Ala Balo", a well-studied mash up of both Trance/Techno rhythms and Oriental Arabic Music. The song featured the rapper SandMan. The video on the other hand was shot in London in a discotheque. An even newer style for Amr Diab, he received a number of Platinum Awards for the sales of the album, and received his second World Music Award in Monaco in 2001 for best selling album for middle-eastern singer, the album contains a good number of significant songs like "Adeeni Rege'telek", "Ya Habeeby La", "Sadda'ni Khalas" and "Ba'edd Ellayali".
[edit] Allem Albi
Later in 2003, Diab released "Allem Alby" (Teach My Heart). The Album's release date was arranged to be with the debut broadcast of Alam El Phan's (Allem Alby's Production Company, Owned by Mohsen Gaber) music channel "Mazzika". The album was a great success, with the release of the video "Ana Ayesh" which was directed by Stuart Gosling. The video was intensely broadcasted on Mazzika . The album contains other songs, like the album-titled "Allem Alby" which is a solid R&B influenced hit. Others that tend to be more oriental like "Kolohom" "Law Ash'any" and "Alli El Wada'"
[edit] Rotana
In between 2003 and 2004, and after a long successful career with Alam El Phan, Diab officially announced the termination of his contract with Mohsen Gaber (owner of Alam El Phan). Rumors were spread around about the tense situation going on between Gaber and Diab. Then other rumors circulated that Saudi Prince Waleed Bin Talal (owner of Rotana) has lured Amr with offering a better deal. In the second half of 2006, unconfirmed news have been reported saying that Amr Diab will no longer be working with rotana, and that he has secretly signed a blockbuster 3 albums and 2 films contract with Cairo-based film production company Good News for Film and Music owned by his friend Adel Adeeb
[edit] Leily Nahari
In late summer of 2004, Diab's first album with Rotana was released, titled "Leily Nahari" (My Nights, My Days). The album's cover was from the promotional photo shoot of Pepsi. The video "Leily Nahari" directed by Casey Cameron which provided aid to give Amr his space in the record-exclusive music channels. It was still criticized because of its similarity to his previously unreleased video for "El Alem Allah" from the album "Tamally Ma'ak".
[edit] Kammel Kalamak
Diab's latest album, "Kammel Kalamak" is the long anticipated follow up to Leily Nahary. It was rumoured to be released in the summer of 2005 but was pushed back to Eid. The album took a reported $4M to record, and is Rotana's biggest album of 2005.
Full album releases appeared on many websites prior to its official release, which is speculated to be the reason why the album's release date was suddenly shortened to a few days prior to the previously mentioned release date.
The love ballad "We Malo" was released as the single of the album, "Kammel Kalamak". The music video was shot in London and was released on a late notice after the release of the album. Rumors surfaced in late 2005 and early 2006 stated that Amr is considering terminating his contract with Rotana due to the poor promotion of his latest album, Kammel Kalamak.
[edit] Khallek Ma'aya
The album was set to be released after Ramadan 2006. However, it has been pushed back several times since then due to Diab's repeated dicisions to change the musical producers he is dealing with. In early 2006, Musical Arranger Fahd was reported to work in this album that was set to be released later that year. Later then Amr Diab joined Dr. Tarek Madkour, his long-time friend and music producer, and started to work again on the the music of his tracks. The album was postponded to 2007.
On Mar. 25th, 2007 Madkour's official website announced that Amr Diab and Madkour have decided jointly to skip the cooperating in the album due to the lack of time and conflicting working schedules. This news caused a very wide range of buzz and speculations about personal conflicts between the two old friends, however, such rumors were later denied by Tarek Madkour him self during an interview published on his website answering some questions sent to him from Amr Diab's fans. According to several music websites, the album might be released by the end of Spring 2007, and that Amr Diab is working again with Fahd and a new musical arrenger named Hasan Al-shafei. There are currently snippets and live recordings of songs from the new album floating around the internet.
[edit] Endorsements
Amr Diab has taken part in an internationally known Pepsi commercial featuring four other pop musicians; Beyoncé Knowles, Pink, Jennifer Lopez, and Britney Spears. In the US version, Enrique Iglesias takes the role of the Cesar. But in the pan Arab version, the four American singers were maintained but the male figure was replaced with Diab. This was not the first Pepsi Commercial Diab has done; he also filmed one using his songs "Ana Aktar wahed", "Allem Alby" and "Khad Alby Ma'aa". Diab also appeared in a commercial along side Jennifer Lopez, singing Jimi Hendrix's hit "Wild Things".
[edit] Personal life
Amr Diab has four children. His oldest daughter, Nour was born in 1990 from his first wife Sherine Rida; his twins, Abdullah and Kenzy were born in 1999; and his youngest daughter, Jana was born in 2001. Amr's second wife, and mother of his three youngest, is Zina Ashour. Amr Diab currently resides in Cairo.
[edit] Discography
- Khalik Ma'aya (Stay with me) (Soon)
- Kammel Kalamak (Keep Talking) (2005)
- Leily Nahary (My nights, My days) (2004)
- Allem Alby (Teach My heart) (2003)
- Aktar Wahed (The Most One) (2001)
- Tamally Maak (Always with you) (2000)
- Amarain (Two Moons) (1999)
- Awedony (They Make Me Used To) (1998)
- Nour Alain (Light Of The Eye) (1996)
- Rag'een (We're Returning) (1995)
- Weylomony (And They Blame Me) (1994)
- Zekrayat (Memories) (1994)
- Ya Omrina (Our Lifetime) (1993)
- Ayyamna (Our Days) (1992)
- Ice Cream Fe Gleem (Ice-cream In Glym) (1992)
- Habiby (My Darling) (1991)
- Matkhafeesh (Don't Be Afraid) (1990)
- Shawwa'na (Excite us) (1989)
- Mayyal (Susceptible) (1988)
- Khalseen (We're Even) (1987)
- Hala Hala (Welcome) (1986)
- Ghanny Men Albak (Sing From Your Heart) (1984)
- Ya Taree' (Hey Road) (1983)
