Sabah (singer)

Jeanette Georges Feghali (10 November 1927 – 26 November 2014), known professionally as Sabah, was a Lebanese singer and actress. Over a seven-decade career in entertainment mainly spanning Egypt and Lebanon, her influence continuously spread across the wider Arab world and regarded her as one of the greatest icons ever known to the region. More popular for her songs, she sang both folkloric and Westernized genres, while in films she took on mostly comedic and romantic roles.

Over the years of her professional life, she had come to be known by several other nicknames, the most notable of which being Al-Shahroura (alternatively Shahrourat al-Wadi), Shams al-Shomous, Al-Sabbouha, and Al-Ustura, as well as "The Notorious Diva" (in the 2009 duet of Yana Yana with Rola Saad).

Sabah was born to a Maronite family in Wadi Chahrour, Baabda District, as the youngest of three daughters. During her childhood, she was harassed by her father who had hoped for a son. Her brother eventually killed their mother, suspecting her of having an affair. Sabah was the sister of famous Lebanese actress Lamia Feghali and a maternal first cousin of famous Lebanese singer and actress Alexandra Nicholas Badran, known as Nour Al Hoda. She grew up in the nearby town of Bdadoun, Aley District.

Sabah emerged in a period when the field of Arab singers included many notable talents, such as Umm Kulthum (1904–1975), Nagat El Saghira (born 1938), Warda Al-Jazairia (1939–2012), Shadia (1931–2017), Fairuz (born 1934 or 1935), among others.^{[citation needed]}

Sabah began singing at a young age and released her first song in Lebanon in 1940 at the age of 13. In the early 1940s, she was invited to Egypt by actress and producer Assia Dagher. Sabah acted alongside Dagher in her first movie, El-Qalb Luh Wahid (The Heart Has Its Reasons), released in 1945, which brought her regional fame. She then became widely known by her character's name, Sabah, which means "morning" in Arabic.

Sabah was active in Egyptian cinema and resided in Egypt for two decades. Among her most popular films were The Night is Ours (1949), My Father Deceived Me (1951), That's What Love Is (1961), Soft Hands (1963), Three Women (1968), Paris and Love (1972), and The Second Man (1959), where she played a cabaret singer seeking to avenge her brother's death at the hands of a smuggling ring. In the 1990s, Sabah and her former husband, Fadi Lubnan (Kuntar), produced a documentary about her life. Titled The Journey of My Life (مشوار حياتي, Mishwār Ḥayātī), the documentary aired on Future Television.

Throughout her music career, Sabah recorded over 3,000 songs, collaborating with numerous renowned Egyptian composers, including the late Mohammed Abdel Wahab. She specialized in the Lebanese folk tradition known as mawwāl, and among her most famous songs were "Zay el-Assal" ("Your Love is Like Honey on my Heart") and "Akhadou el-Reeh" ("They Took the Wind"). Sabah released more than 50 albums and appeared in 98 films. Known for her youthful spirit and vibrant performances, she became a symbolic figure of the "belle époque" and the "joie de vivre" in the Levant and the Arab world. Despite the Lebanese civil war, she continued to sing at weddings in Lebanon.

Until 2009, Sabah performed in concerts and on television, including appearances on programs like Star Academy. She collaborated closely with singer Rola Saad in remaking some of her previous hits, such as "Yana Yana". The accompanying video, which pays tribute to Sabah as "the notorious diva", received significant airplay on Arabic music channels. Additionally, Sabah hosted the TV show Akher Man Yalam on 31 May 2010.