Majida El Roumi

Biography: Majida El Roumi (born December 13, 1956) is a Lebanese soprano singer and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador. Her father was the great composer Halim El Roumi, who discovered the Lebanese star Fairuz and chose for her the stage name Fairuz. Her mother was Egyptian. Since childhood, El Roumi was influenced by Arab singers and musicians such as Mohamed Abdel Wahab, Umm Kulthum, and Asmahan. Raymond Safadi, her cousin, was fascinated with her voice and thought that she could be very successful if she pursued singing as a profession. She participated in the talent show Studio El Fan in 1974 after she sneaked out of the house with her brother and cousins. For her first appearance on television, she performed songs by Laila Mourad and Asmahan and won the gold medal for oriental singing. Her success prompted her father to change his mind and give her his blessings to pursue singing as long as she continued her higher education. Later on, Majida graduated from the Lebanese University after receiving her BA in Arabic Literature. In 1975, Majida released her first single "Am Behlamak" (I'm Dreaming of You) in collaboration with the Lebanese poet Said Akl and musician Elias Rahbani. The song, released at the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War in April 1975, was very popular. Majida got the attention of Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine as he was very impressed with her voice. In 1976, she starred alongside Hesham Selim in her first and only movie Awdat Al Ibn Al Dal (Return of the Prodigal Son) and performed three of the soundtrack's songs.