Nouhad Haddad

January 21, 1935

Zuqaq al-Blat, Beirut, Lebanon

Haddad began her musical career as a member of the chorus at the Lebanese Radio Station. There Halim Al-Rumi, a composer and musical director at the radio, recognized her unique talent and made her lead soloist. He composed songs especially for her and gave her the stage name of Fairuz (turquoise) because her voice reminded him of a precious stone. The young Fairuz met with unprecedented enthusiasm from listeners everywhere in Lebanon. This led to a meeting between her and the Rahbani brothers, Assi and Mansour, themselves rising talents as composer and lyricist, respectively. The collaboration between them at first took the form of adaptation by the Rahbanis of modern Western dance tunes into Arabic songs. This gave the team of three a certain amount of public exposure. However, the song that catapulted them into the limelight on the popular scale was not a Western dance tune but a melancholy love song entitled "Itab" (Blame) that they had recorded on November 2, 1952, at the Damascus Radio Station. What followed was a period of experimentation in a variety of musical forms. In all instances Fairuz's songs expressed artistic qualities that extended their appeal to listeners from a wide variety of social and national backgrounds. In 1955 Fairuz traveled to Egypt for the first time. Cairo, which was then the center of the Arab theater, cinema, and song, was conquered by the young Lebanese singer. Fairuz's triumph in Egypt led to many offers by celebrated Egyptian composers and filmmakers, but by then she returned to Lebanon and gave birth to her first child. In the summer of 1957 Fairuz appeared for the first time before a live audience. Until then she had been restricted to the recording studios. She sang in a musical review ("Ayam el Hissad, " or "Harvest Days") before a large spellbound audience seated in the Roman ruins of the Temple of Jupiter in Baalback. This was her first appearance at the Baalback International Festival, and she was awarded the highest medal for artistic achievement there, the Cavalier, by the president of Lebanon, Camille Chamoun. Fourteen years later a stamp was issued by the government to commemorate her name. Fairuz became one of the main attractions at the annual International Festival of Baalback, where she sang in musical plays or massrahiyaat that were written especially for her by the Rahbanis. In 1975 the 15-year civil was in Lebanon began, putting an end to the Baalback Festival, and some time later Fairuz ended her artistic collaboration with the Rahbani brothers. With a reputation that had grown to include all the Arab world and the expatriate communities in Europe and the Americas, poets and composers everywhere rushed to write for Fairuz. The result was a repertoire of more than 800 songs, three feature films, and 400 LP recordings during a period of three decades. She was invited to appear in the major Arab capitals. She gave concerts in New York, San Francisco, Montreal, London, and Paris. She was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1963 and the Gold Medal in 1975 by King Hussein of Jordan. Fairuz had become a legend in her own time. In the 1990s, Fairuz produced six albums (two Philemon Wehbe tributes with unreleased tracks included, a Zaki Nassif album, three Ziad Rahbani albums, and a tribute album to Assi Rahbani orchestrated by Ziad) and held a number of large-scale concerts, most notably the historic concert held at Beirut's Martyr's Square in September 1994 to launch the rebirth of the downtown district that was ravaged by the civil war. She appeared at the Baalbeck International Festival in 1998 after 25 years of self-imposed absence where she performed the highlights of three very successful plays that were presented in the 1960s and 1970s. She also performed a concert in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Arena in 1999 which was attended by over 16, 000 spectators, mostly Arabs. Ever since, Fairuz has held sold out concerts at the Beiteddine International Festival (Lebanon) from 2000 to 2003, Kuwait (2001), Paris (2002), the United States (2003), Amman (2004), Montreal (2005), Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Baalbeck, BIEL (2006), Athens, Amman (2007) Damascus, and Bahrain (2008). Fairuz now works exclusively with her composer son Ziad. Her first album in the new millennium "Wala Keef", was released in 2002. On January 28, 2008, Fairuz performed at the Damascus Opera House in an emotional return to the Syrian capital, where she played the lead role in the musical Sah el-Nom (Good Morning), after more than two decades of absence from the country, in one of a series of events highlighting UNESCO's designation of Damascus as the Capital of Arab Culture that year. Fairuz's new album entitled Eh. .. Fi Amal was released on October 7, 2010, produced by Fairuz productions and written entirely by Ziad Rahbani. Two concerts took place at BIEL Center in Beirut, Lebanon, on October 7 and 8. Later a concert in Bahrain was cancelled in March 2011. She performed in the Netherlands for the first time in Amsterdam on June 26, 2011. Fairuz's last appearance on stage was in Platea – Jounieh – Harer Sakher in December 2011, where she had 6 concerts. Fairuz released her first album in seven years titled "Bebalee" on September 22, 2017.

Nouhad Wadie' Haddad Edit Profile

also known as Fairuz

Actor singer

Background

Nouhad Haddad was born on November 21, 1935, in Zuqaq al-Blat, Beirut.

Education

Haddad attended the Saint Joseph School for Girls in Beirut until the hardships of World War II forced her father to move her to a public school.

In 1947, at age 14, she was discovered by Mohammad Fleifel, one of the founders of the National Conservatory of Music in Beirut, who was in search of talent for a newly formed choral group. Fleifel was instrumental in Fairuz's admission to the National Conservatory, where she spent five years training. But perhaps his greatest contribution to her development as a singer was the instruction he gave her in the classical tradition of the tajwid, or classical chanting of Koranic verse.

Career

Haddad began her musical career as a member of the chorus at the Lebanese Radio Station. There Halim Al-Rumi, a composer and musical director at the radio, recognized her unique talent and made her lead soloist. He composed songs especially for her and gave her the stage name of Fairuz (turquoise) because her voice reminded him of a precious stone.

The young Fairuz met with unprecedented enthusiasm from listeners everywhere in Lebanon. This led to a meeting between her and the Rahbani brothers, Assi and Mansour, themselves rising talents as composer and lyricist, respectively. The collaboration between them at first took the form of adaptation by the Rahbanis of modern Western dance tunes into Arabic songs. This gave the team of three a certain amount of public exposure. However, the song that catapulted them into the limelight on the popular scale was not a Western dance tune but a melancholy love song entitled "Itab" (Blame) that they had recorded on November 2, 1952, at the Damascus Radio Station. What followed was a period of experimentation in a variety of musical forms. In all instances Fairuz's songs expressed artistic qualities that extended their appeal to listeners from a wide variety of social and national backgrounds.

In 1955 Fairuz traveled to Egypt for the first time. Cairo, which was then the center of the Arab theater, cinema, and song, was conquered by the young Lebanese singer. Fairuz's triumph in Egypt led to many offers by celebrated Egyptian composers and filmmakers, but by then she returned to Lebanon and gave birth to her first child.

In the summer of 1957 Fairuz appeared for the first time before a live audience. Until then she had been restricted to the recording studios. She sang in a musical review ("Ayam el Hissad, " or "Harvest Days") before a large spellbound audience seated in the Roman ruins of the Temple of Jupiter in Baalback. This was her first appearance at the Baalback International Festival, and she was awarded the highest medal for artistic achievement there, the Cavalier, by the president of Lebanon, Camille Chamoun. Fourteen years later a stamp was issued by the government to commemorate her name.

Fairuz became one of the main attractions at the annual International Festival of Baalback, where she sang in musical plays or massrahiyaat that were written especially for her by the Rahbanis. In 1975 the 15-year civil was in Lebanon began, putting an end to the Baalback Festival, and some time later Fairuz ended her artistic collaboration with the Rahbani brothers.

With a reputation that had grown to include all the Arab world and the expatriate communities in Europe and the Americas, poets and composers everywhere rushed to write for Fairuz. The result was a repertoire of more than 800 songs, three feature films, and 400 LP recordings during a period of three decades. She was invited to appear in the major Arab capitals. She gave concerts in New York, San Francisco, Montreal, London, and Paris. She was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1963 and the Gold Medal in 1975 by King Hussein of Jordan. Fairuz had become a legend in her own time.

In the 1990s, Fairuz produced six albums (two Philemon Wehbe tributes with unreleased tracks included, a Zaki Nassif album, three Ziad Rahbani albums, and a tribute album to Assi Rahbani orchestrated by Ziad) and held a number of large-scale concerts, most notably the historic concert held at Beirut's Martyr's Square in September 1994 to launch the rebirth of the downtown district that was ravaged by the civil war. She appeared at the Baalbeck International Festival in 1998 after 25 years of self-imposed absence where she performed the highlights of three very successful plays that were presented in the 1960s and 1970s.

She also performed a concert in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Arena in 1999 which was attended by over 16, 000 spectators, mostly Arabs. Ever since, Fairuz has held sold out concerts at the Beiteddine International Festival (Lebanon) from 2000 to 2003, Kuwait (2001), Paris (2002), the United States (2003), Amman (2004), Montreal (2005), Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Baalbeck, BIEL (2006), Athens, Amman (2007) Damascus, and Bahrain (2008).

Fairuz now works exclusively with her composer son Ziad. Her first album in the new millennium "Wala Keef", was released in 2002.

On January 28, 2008, Fairuz performed at the Damascus Opera House in an emotional return to the Syrian capital, where she played the lead role in the musical Sah el-Nom (Good Morning), after more than two decades of absence from the country, in one of a series of events highlighting UNESCO's designation of Damascus as the Capital of Arab Culture that year.

Fairuz's new album entitled Eh. .. Fi Amal was released on October 7, 2010, produced by Fairuz productions and written entirely by Ziad Rahbani. Two concerts took place at BIEL Center in Beirut, Lebanon, on October 7 and 8. Later a concert in Bahrain was cancelled in March 2011. She performed in the Netherlands for the first time in Amsterdam on June 26, 2011. Fairuz's last appearance on stage was in Platea – Jounieh – Harer Sakher in December 2011, where she had 6 concerts.

Fairuz released her first album in seven years titled "Bebalee" on September 22, 2017.

Achievements

Fairuz is the greatest Lebanese singer of modern times, who led the creation of a new musical language in the Middle E.

In 1957 she was awarded the highest medal for artistic achievement, the Cavalier, by the president of Lebanon, Camille Chamoun. Fourteen years later a stamp was issued by the government to commemorate her name.

Also Fairuz has received many awards for her music work, among them:Order of Merit (1962), Medal of Honour (1963), Order of Cedars (1963), Order of Merit First Class (1967), Key to the Holy City (1968), Memorial Lebanese Stamp (1969), Legion of Honour (1970), Gold Medal of Honour (1975), Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres (1988), Highest Artistic Distinction (1997), Jerusalem Award (1997), Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur (1998), Highest Distinction (1998), Honorary Doctorate (2005).