Who is Amr Diab? Life and key facts

Amr Abdel Basset Abdel Azeez Diab (Arabic: عمرو عبد الباسط عبد العزيز دياب, Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [ˈʕɑmɾe ʕæbdelˈbɑːsetˤ ʕæbdelʕæˈziːz deˈjæːb], born 11 October 1961) is an Egyptian singer, composer and actor. He has established himself as a globally acclaimed recording artist and author.

He is a Guinness World Record holder, the best selling Middle Eastern artist, a seven-times winner of World Music Awards and five-times winner of Platinum Records. Named the "King of Arabic Pop", Rolling Stone ranked his song "Tamally Maak" first on their list of the "50 Best Arabic Pop Songs of the 21st Century".

Early life

Diab was born as Amr Abdel Basset Abdel Azeez Diab on 11 October 1961 in Port Said to a middle-class Egyptian Muslim family from the Nile Delta countryside of Menia Elamh in Sharqia Governorate. Diab graduated with a bachelor's degree in music from the Cairo Academy of Arts in 1986.

Music career

Diab released his first album entitled Ya Tareeq (Oh Road) in 1983. Diab's second album, Ghanny Men Albak (Sing from your heart) (1984), was the first of a series of records he released with Delta Sound; including Hala Hala (1986), Khalseen (We're finished) (1987), and Mayyal (1988). His later releases include Shawa'na (1989), Matkhafesh (1990), Habibi (1991), Ayyamna (Our days) (1992), Ya Omrena (1993), Weylomony (1994), and Rag'een (1995).

By 1992, he became the first Egyptian and Middle Eastern artist to start making high-tech music videos.

In 1996, Diab released his first album with Alam El Phan entitled Nour El Ain, and he won the World Music Award for the first time, which proved an international success and gained Diab recognition beyond the Arabic-speaking world. Diab recorded four more albums with Alam El Phan, including Amarain (1999). Diab also collaborated with Khaled (on the song "Alby") and with Angela Dimitriou (on the song "Bahebak Aktar").^{[citation needed]}

According to research by Michael Frishkopf, he has created a style in the song "Nour El Ain", termed as "Mediterranean music", a blend of Western and Middle Eastern/Egyptian rhythms.

In the summer of 2004, Diab, having left Alam El Phan, released his first album with Rotana Records, Leily Nahary, which he followed up with the hugely successful Kammel Kalamak (2005), and El Lilady (2007).

Wayah was released for sale on the internet on 27 June 2009; however, the album was leaked online and was downloaded illegally amid complaints of slow download speed on the official site. Diab's fans initiated a massive boycott of the sites with the illegal copies.

On 18 October 2009, Diab won four 2009 African Music Awards in the categories of best artist, album, vocalist and song for "Wayah"; Diab had been nominated by the Big Apple Music Awards.

In February 2011, Diab released his hit single "Masr Allet" ("Egypt spoke"), followed by the release of his album Banadeek Taala in September, produced by Rotana. In 2012, Diab hosted the first Google Hangout in the Middle East during his performance in Dubai.

In October 2014, Diab released his album Shoft El Ayam, which topped his last album El Leila (2013) and again became the best-selling album in Egypt on iTunes and peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard World Albums Charts, making him the first Egyptian and Middle Eastern performer to accomplish such a feat.

In July 2015, Diab released a music video for his song "Gamalo" from his album Shoft El Ayam. In March 2016, he released Ahla w Ahla, his first album since he left Rotana Music.

The album was produced by the record label Nay For Media. His new album Maadi el Nas was released in July 2017 with Nay Records.

In October 2018, he released a new album called Kol Hayaty. In 2019, he released a mini-album, Ana Gheir, and in February 2020, he released his 30th album, Sahran, which included 16 songs. In the same year, Amr Diab released another album, Ya Ana Ya La, at the end of the year, 31 December 2020.

From April 2021 to July 2023, Amr Diab released a huge amount of singles, many of which topped the charts on digital listening platforms until his album release in 2023.

In February 2022, Anghami announced an exclusive partnership that will see the Diab's entire Nay Label audio and video catalogue and future releases available only on Anghami.

In December 2023, Amr Diab released an album called Makanak with 12 songs.

Then he released two singles called "El Kelma El Helwa", an advertisement for Vodafone Music (Egypt), and "Hekyatna Helwa" for Hyde Park, both on 11 March 2024.

In April 2024, Rolling Stone picked Tamally Maak to top the Best Arabic Pop Songs of the 21st Century. In July of that year, his exclusive contract with Anghami expired.

In 2024 Amr Diab won top male artist and top male artist in Egyptian dialect. Awarded by Billboard Arabia.

A program produced by Amr Afifi, consisting of 12 parts aired on Rotana Music, Rotana Cinema and Egyptian Channel 1 station. The program detailed the biography of Diab and was scheduled to be launched simultaneously with the release of Amr Diab's new album, but the album's release was postponed to a later date.

Musical style

Diab is known as the "father of Mediterranean music". David Cooper and Kevin Dawe refer to his music as "the new breed of Mediterranean music". According to author Michael Frishkopf, Diab has produced a new concept of Mediterranean music, especially with his international hit, "Nour El Ain". Diab is known as a composer, having composed more than 97 of his own songs.

Diab is one of the first singers to popularize music videos in the whole MENA region and is the first Egyptian singer to appear in music videos.

Film career

Diab's fame in the music industry has led him to experiment with other forms of media, such as film. Diab played himself in his first film, El Afareet, which was released in 1989. It also starred Madiha Kamel. His second film was Hussein El-Imam's production Ice Cream in Gleam (Ays Krim fi Glym), in which Diab starred in 1992, was chosen as one of the best five Egyptian musical films by the University of California, Los Angeles (ULCA) School of Theater, Film and Television.

The film was featured in the UCLA Film and Television Archive's new program "Music on the Nile: Fifty Years of Egyptian Musical Films" at James Bridges Theater at UCLA on 6, 8 and 10 April 1999. David Chute of the LA Weekly termed it "observant" and "a big leap". His third movie was released in 1993, and was named Deahk We La'ab (Laughter and Fun).

The film premiered in the Egyptian Film Festival in 1993. Diab played alongside international Egyptian movie star Omar Sharif (Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago) and Yousra. Overall, Diab did not experience the same level of success in film that he had with his music career. Since 1993, Diab has focused on his singing career.

Amr Diab in movies

Diab's songs have been used in several films, including:

"Wala Ala Baloh" in Divine Intervention (2002)
"Awedouni" in The Dancer Upstairs (2002)
"El Alem Alah" and "Nour El Ain" in O Clone (2001)
"Nafs El Makan" in Double Whammy (2001)
"Tamally Ma'ak" and "Nour El Ain" in Coco (2009)
"Wala Ala Baloh" in The Dictator (2012)

Personal life

Diab has an elder daughter from his first marriage to Egyptian actress Shereen Reda. In 1994, he was married to Saudi businesswoman Zeina Ashour. They have three children. In 2018, he went on to marry Egyptian actress, Dina El Sherbiny, .However Amr & Zeina Are not yet divorced still appearing together sometimes and visits his family in London.. However, Diab and El Sherbiny separated in late 2020.

Egyptian Uprising 2011

During the 2011 uprising, some protesters criticized Diab for staying silent, and for fleeing Egypt for London. A few days after former President Hosni Mubarak stepped down, Diab composed and sang a memorial song, "Masr A'let" (Egypt Said), and released it in conjunction with a music video showing pictures of the martyrs who died in the uprising.

He initiated a charity campaign "Masry Begad" ("Truly Egyptian"). His online radio station Diab FM often presents talks and discussions about what the Diab FM team can offer to the community as well as applying it practically by being present in different sites across Egypt with a new humanitarian project each week.

Discography

Studio albums

1983 — Ya Tareeq — O Road — Sawt Al Madina
1984 — Ghanni Min Albak — Sing From Your Heart — Delta Sound
1986 — Hala Hala — Welcome Welcome — Delta Sound
1987 — Khalseen — We're Done — Delta Sound
1988 — Mayal — Leaning — Delta Sound
1989 — Shawa'na — Make Us Miss You — Delta Sound
1990 — Matkhafesh — Don't Be Afraid — Delta Sound
1991 — Habibi — Baby — Delta Sound
1992 — Ayamna — Our Days — Delta Sound
1993 — Ya Omrena — O Our Life — Delta Sound
1994 — We Yloumouni — Let Them Blame Me — Delta Sound
1995 — Ragein — We're Coming Back — Delta Sound
1996 — Nour El Ain — Light of the Eye — Alam El Phan
1998 — Awedony — Made Me Used To You — Delta Sound
1999 — Amarain — Two Moons — Alam El Phan
2000 — Tamally Maak — Always With You — Alam El Phan
2001 — Aktar Wahed — The One That Loves You The Most — Alam El Phan
2003 — Allem Alby — Teach My Heart — Alam El Phan
2004 — Lealy Nahary — Night and Day — Rotana
2005 — Kammel Kalamak — Keep Talking — Rotana
2007 — El Lilady — Tonight — Rotana
2009 — Wayah — With Her — Rotana
2011 — Banadeek Ta'ala — Come I'm Calling You — Rotana
2013 — El Leila — This Night — Rotana
2014 — Shoft El Ayam — I saw the days — Rotana
2016 — Ahla W Ahla — Prettier and Prettier — Sony Music
2017 — Meaddy El Nas — Greater than People — Sony Music
2018 — Kol Hayaty — All My Life — Sony Music
2020 — Sahran — Up All Night — Sony Music
2020 — Ya Ana Ya La — Either Me or No One — Sony Music
2023 — Makanak — Your Place — Sony Music
2025 — Ebtadena — We Started — Sony Music
2026 — Habeitek — I Loved You — Sony Music

Singles

1999 — Eleos - with Angela Dimitriou — Mercy — EMI
1999 — Ana Mahma Kibirt — Whatever I Get Old, I Still Young — Alam El Phan
2000 — El Quds De Aredna — Quds is Our "Arabs" Land — Rotana
2000 — El Helm Da Helmena — This Dream is Ours — Rotana
2002 — Bahebak Nefsi Aaolhalak — I Hope to Say I Love You — Alam El Phan
2003 — Rouh Alby — Soul of My Heart — Alam El Phan
2005 — Elly Beiny We Beinak — That Between You and Me — Rotana
2007 — Allah Aliha — God Bless Her — Rotana
2008 — Oldies Singles
2009 — Leh Youm Ma Abeltak — Why That Happened When I Met You? — Rotana
2009 — Makontsh Nawy — I didn't intend to — Rotana
2010 — Nokia 5800 Releases
2010 — Aslaha Betefre’a — It's different — Rotana
2011 — Masr Alet — Egypt Said — Rotana — Sony Music
2011 — La' Yestaheil — She deserves — Rotana — Rotana
2012 — Fe Haga Feek — There's Something With You
2012 — We Redet — I'm Satisfied
2012 — Ayesh Maak — I Spend Days With You
2013 — Dawam El Haal — What Goes around Comes around
2014 — Mesh Kol Wahed — Not Everybody
2014 — Ya Hob Dawebna — Oh love, Melt us in you
2015 — Balash Teb'ed — Don't Go Far — Nay for Media — Rotana
2016 — Al Qahera - ft. Mohamed Mounir — Cairo — Nay for Media — Rotana
2017 — El Farha El Leila — The Joy is tonight — Nay for Media — Rotana
2018 — Bahebak Ana — Me, Love You — Nay for Media — Rotana
2019 — Maa'darsh Al Nesyan — I cannot afford to forget — Nay for Media — Rotana
2019 — Gamaa Habybak — Gather Your Loved Ones — Nay for Media — Rotana
2019 — Africa (2019 Edition)
2019 — Aha Gheir — I'm Different — Nay for Media
2020 — Ya Baladna Ya Helwa — Our Country is Beautiful — Nay for Media
2020 — Amaken El Sahar — Nightlife places — Nay for Media
2021 — Inta El Haz — You're the Luck — Nay for Media
2022 — El Ser — The Secret — Nay for Media
2023 — Shokran Min Hena Le Bokra — Thank you from here on out — Nay for Media

Awards

He has been awarded the World Music Award for Best Selling Middle Eastern Artist four times: 1996 for album Nour El Ain, 2001 for album Akter Wahed, 2007 for album El Lillady and 2013 for El Leila album.

He has also won (Best Egyptian Artist, Best Male Arab Artist and World's Best Arab Male Artist Voted Online) at the World Music Awards 2014. Amr Diab is the only Middle Eastern artist to have received 7 World Music Awards. Five of his albums reached the top 10 of Billboard's World Albums chart, with Shoft El Ayam reaching No. 1 in 2014, the first for an Arabic performer.

Alongside that accomplishment, two of his albums (2014's Shoft El Ayam and 2016's Ahla w Ahla) both peaked at 29 and 14 respectively on Billboard's Heatseekers charts.

On 28 September 2016, Diab announced that he achieved a Guinness World Records title for "Most World Music Awards for Best Selling Middle Eastern Artist".