نانسي عجرم
| Nancy Ajram نانسي عجرم |
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| Background information | |
| Born | May 16, 1983 |
| Origin | Beirut, Lebanon |
| Genre(s) | Arabic, Pop folk |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Years active | 1998 — present |
| Website | www.nancyajramonline.com |
Nancy Nabil Ajram or Nancy Ajram (Arabic: نانسي نبيل عجرم) (born May 16, 1983) is a multi-platinum Lebanese pop folk artist. Considered one of the decade's most important superstars of the Middle East & Arab world, Ajram has sold, by 2007, over 30 million records ranking 3rd best selling female artist in Lebanese history [1]. Ajram has secured a sensational status in the Middle East by releasing seven albums to date, numerous music videos and commercials, and has participated in the most significant Arabic festivals and won plenty of awards, most importantly the 2008 World Music Award of best-selling Arab/Middle Eastern artist. Nancy Ajram is the first and only female sponsor and spokesperson of Coca-Cola in the Middle East & Arab world. Recently, Nancy got married in 2008 at the age of 25, ten years after starting her music career by releasing her first album at the age of 15.
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Ajram was born on May 16th, 1983 to Nabil Ajram and Rimonda Oun, as the eldest of two siblings, Nadine Nariman Ajram and Nabil Ajram Jr. She started singing at the age of eight, when she appeared for the first time in 1991 at a singing contest for kids on national television in Lebanon. In 1995, at the age of twelve, Nancy Ajram took part in the entertainment show, Noujoum Al-Moustakbal, ("Stars of the Future"), a Lebanese television musical competition, winning a gold medal in the Tarab category after singing a song by Umm Kulthum.
Ajram studied music following her early success with renowned Lebanese musicians and although she was less than 18 years old, the syndicate of professional artists in Lebanon accepted her as a member because they found her to be an exceptional talent and deserved to be qualified as a professional artist. Shortly afterwards Nancy released her first album, Mihtagalak ("I Need You') in 1998, with most of its songs holding a pure Tarab style. It was followed by Sheel Oyoonak Anni ("Take Your Eyes Off Of Me") in 2000, which achieved more success. Nancy belongs to the Twelver Shi'a sect of Lebanon.
Nancy then met Jiji Lamara, a producer and manager with long experience, who was highly impressed by Nancy's vocal abilities when she was just a little girl, and they started working together after long sessions. She subsequently emerged at the forefront of the pop music scene in the early 2003 when she released her third album, Ya Salam ("How Beautiful"). It became her most successful album so far, when the song Akhasmak Ah ("I'll taunt you") became an enormous hit played on all TV channels and radio stations, as did its then-controversial music video. Reminiscent of older Arabic films, Nancy appeared as a cafe manager who dances and flirts with its customers. The video spawned lots of controversy in the Arab music industry, however, Nancy then succeeded at clarifying her image as a singer with impressive vocal abilities with her next video for the song "Ya Salam" ("How Beautiful"). "Ya Salam", Nancy's second video with prominent Lebanese director and actress Nadine Labaki was a 1930's inspired mini-drama where Nancy appeared as star with a sad life. Later on, based on the success of the song, Yay (Sehr Oyoono) ("Oh, the Magic of his Eyes") which was composed by prominent Lebanese composer Samir Sfeir was filmed with Nadine. The video which was highly successful portrayed Nancy as a girl discovering romance as a demure Beirut hairdresser.
Her fourth album, Ah w Noss ("Yes, and a half"), was released on April 12th, 2004, and was also an important marking point in Nancy's career. The tremendous success "Ah w Noss" achieved stabilized Nancy's spot as an A-level star in the Arab music industry. Nancy then filmed "Lawn Ouyounak" (The Color of Your Eyes) which portrayed Nancy as a bride in a traditional Lebanese wedding. Negotiations between leading soft-drink company Coca-Cola and Nancy Ajram started that period and towards the beginning of 2005, Nancy Ajram became Coca-Cola's star and official celebrity sponsor and spokesperson for the Western Asia and North Africa. Her first Coke commercial was for her hit "Oul Tany Kida" (Say That Again?) which was filmed with the international Italian director Luca Tomassini. The commercial's success lead to its filming as a music video behind the scenes of the commercial. Later on in 2005, Nancy decided on filming "Inta Eih" (What Are You?) as the fourth hit from the album. Nadine successfully created a drama that portrayed Nancy in a much mature and different image, as she appeared as wife who sees her husband cheating on her, and pretends not to know for the sake of her love and marriage. Leading Egyptian actors and directors, like Faten Hamama praised Nancy's acting abilities and movie offers doubled for Nancy, who was not really interested or free at that period.
Her fifth album, Ya Tabtab...Wa Dallaa was released on February 15th, 2006. Atabtab was considered Nancy's best album to date, with six music videos released, eight radio hits, and five songs used for commercials.
The title song's video was Nancy's last video directed by Nadine Labaki, as she then started working on her movie Caramel. Nancy then released the video of her Coca-Cola hit "Moegaba" (Admirer), as well as a video and commercial for her newly signed Damas Jewelry contract advertising their "Farfasha" set. The song used was Ana Yalli which was promoted before the album's release. Nancy then cooperated for the first time with prominent Lebanese director Said el Marouk, filming "Ehsas Jdeed" (A New Feeling) which is widely considered to be the most successful song of the album. The video, which was a salute from Said to his deaf and mute parents, depicted the story of a rich woman who falls in love with a deaf and mute man. Later in 2007, Nancy released all together the video of "Elli Kan" (All That Was) for Damas's second campaign, her Coca-Cola Side of Life commercial featuring a new single "ElDonya Helwa" (Life is Beautiful), and a video and album directed towards children, titled Shakhbat Shakhabit (He Scribbled Scribbles). "ElDonya Helwa", Nancy's 7th commercial, is considered one of her most successful commercials representing her style and Coca-Cola's with colors, happiness, and music, and it led her to release a Live album featuring the single.
Ajram's sixth album was fully dedicated to children with a variety of songs aimed towards teaching children good values and morals, something she has wanted to do for a long time. The music video was her second cooperation with Said El Marouk after "Ehsas Jdeed" and featured four songs from her album: Shakhbat Shakhabit, Katkouta, Shater, and Eid Milad at the credits. Nancy performed these songs at several fund-raising events for children and other children's events. She then filmed with Fadi Haddad, the director of photography of her previous works with ElMarouk, a video for the song "Resala Ilal Aalam" (A Message to the World) which talks about world peace. The video was released on May 25th, 2008, the day the Lebanese president General Michel Suleiman was elected ending a deadlock that lasted since November. It was the first video for Nancy that had an entirely graphical world that implied the suffering of children worldwide and the need to bring out a more colorful and happy world for them, like the one in the video. Old rumors claimed that the video will be presented to the UNICEF.
In February and March 2008, Nancy released three Coca-Cola commercials that featured a brand new hit from her long awaited album. The song, "Meen Gheyri Ana (Noss elKawn)" (Who Else?) was made by the successful Yey and Ana Yalli trio (Nizar Francis, Samir Sfeir, and Tarek Madkour). The song and commercials served as a highly successful promotion 5 months before the album's release. Nancy's 7th album, Betfakkar Fi Eih?!, is considered to be one of her most successful albums so far as it won her first World Music Award in her career. Nancy released her seventh studio album after several delays on July 30th 2008, which has been highly anticipated by fans for almost three years. This long awaited comeback album held lots of surprises for her fans with a huge change in her style that presented her matured vocal abilities like never before. Including her first "Tarab" song called "Biteegy Sirtak" since 1998's Mihtagalak album, and a Lebanese folkore song called "Mashi Haddi". Even though the hit video had mixed opinions, the second video of "Min Dally Nseek" was much more accepted, peaking at #1 for seven consecutive weeks in Melody Hits [2]. The same musical trio who created "Ehsas Jdeed" did one of the instant radio-hits of the album, "Lamset Eed" (Touch of a Hand). In June 2008, Jiji announced the filming of a video for a song called "Aktar w Aktar" (Sahharny Sahhar) which was rumored to have been the old album title. Other leaked rumors include filming a music video for "Ibn elJeeran" (The Neighbors' Son) with Nadine Labaki as her music video comeback, as well as "Zaman Kan Andi Alb" (I Used to Have a Heart) which will supposedly sequel "Inta Eih". This is song is the second creation of Sameer Sfeir and Tarek Madkoor in the album, after "Meen Ghayri Ana" (Noss elKawn) which fans highly requested a music video for.
On November 9th, 2008, Nancy Ajram won her first World Music Award for her best-selling album Betfakkar Fi Eih. In her short speech, Nancy thanked her parents, Jiji Lamara, her fans, and husband, and said "2008 has been a fantastic year - a successful album, my wedding, and now this award, what can I ask for more?" Nancy has also performed along with Enrique Iglesias and Lionel Richie in Egypt.
1995 Nojoom Al Mustaqbal Golden Award - (Nancy's most significant pre-stardom award)
2003 Murex D'or Award - Best Female Lebanese Singer of the year, Beirut [3]
2003 Murex D'or Award - Best Video of the Year: Ya Salam - Nadine Labaki, Beirut
2003 The Golden Lion Award Egypt
2003 LG Music Award
2003-2004 Zahrat elKhaleej Magazine - Best Female Arab Singer, Dubai
2004 Zahrat elKhaleej - Best Music Video of the Year, Dubai
2004 Arabian Music Awards - Best Female Arab Singer of the year, Dubai
2004 Murex D'or Award - Best Female Lebanese Singer of the year, Beirut [4]
2005 Zahrat elKhaleej Magazine - Best Female Arab Singer, Dubai
2005 Newsweek - Most Influential Arab Personalities, Kuwait
2005 - Honor from the Opera House of Egypt
2006 Murex D'or Award - Best Female Lebanese Artist of the year, Beirut
2006 Murex D'or Award - Best Video of the Year: Ehsas Jdeed - Said elMarouk, Beirut
2007 LG Music Award , Abu Dhabi
2007 Certificate from the Pope of Rome
2007 Middle East Music Awards (Mobinil) - Best Female Arab Singer of the year, Cairo
2007 Arabian Business - Most Influential Contemporary Female Singer in 2007 [5]
2007 Arabian Business - Most Powerful Arab Singers [1]
2007 Kol elArab Survey - Best Arabic Star of the year 2007 [6]
2008 Annual Doha Festival - Honor Award, Doha
2008 World Music Award - World's Best-Selling Middle-Eastern Artist, Monaco [7]
2008 Student Choice Award - [College Student Survey]: Best Album of the Year 2008, Beirut
Nancy released several songs dedicated to special countries in the Arab world, starting with "Kuwait alShahama" in 2005. Later on, a compilation CD featured "3agbal", dedicated to the Sheikh's daughters. In early 2006, she released a single, "Ana Masry" ("I am Egyptian"), timed to coincide with Egypt's hosting and winning of the African Cup of Nations football tournament, taking it by storm. Its video showed Egyptians representing the diversity of the country lip-sync the patriotic lyrics of the song. Nancy also released a song for the rival Egyptian soccer teams "Ahly and Zamalek", being the first to do so after the legendary Sabah. Nancy released a sensual song for Lebanon called "Habib elOmr" composed by Ziad Boutrous, which preceded the 2006 Lebanese war. After the 2007 "Nahr el Bared" war, Nancy dedicated a song composed by Samir Sfeir to the Lebanese Army, called "Khalleek Bwejj elGhadab".
Nancy's non-album singles:
In 2007, Coca-Cola released their international trademark campaign of their popular slogan "The Coke Side of Life", which focused on themes such as fun, happiness, colors, and life. A collaboration with Nancy Ajram lead to the making of the song "El Donya Helwa" (Life is Beautiful) for which a commercial was filmed with an American director on international standards and hi-tech effects. Nancy insisted on filming in Lebanon which had been hit by war a while back. El Donya Helwa became one of Nancy's most successful songs, and she then released it as a single track in a "Live" album with live performances of songs from her last studio album, Atabtab.
Nancy also participated in the following group works:
Mihtagalak
Sheel Oyoonak Anni
Ya Salam
Ah W Noss
Ya Tabtab...Wa Dallaa
Shakhbat Shakhabit
Director: Said elMarouk
Betfakkar Fi Eih
In the early 2000s, Ajram's success as a singer led to high-profile advertising deals, most notably for Coca-Cola and Damas Jewelry. Nancy remained the only Arab star promoting Coke until late 2007 when Egyptian sensations Mohammed Hamaki and Tamer Hosni joined in as well. Coca-Cola and Nancy formed a great team for about four years making commercials and music videos that stood out in the Arab world .
2005 Concert: Commercial and music video.
-Oul Tani Keda (Say That Again?) from Ah W Noss. Commercial and music video.
2005 Tickle and Splash/"Marylin Munroe"
and 2006 Wink
-Lawn 3younak Intstrumentals ("The Color of Your Eyes") from Ah W Noss in three commercials:
2005 Circus: Commercial and music video.
-Moegaba (Admirer) from her then upcoming album Atabtab.
2006 Coke Bottle: Ashtiki Minno ("Should I Complain About Him") from Atabtab
2007 The Coke Side of Life: El Donia Helwa Single ("Life is Beautiful")
2008 Celebrating/Star, Playful, & Thirsty/Rockstar
-Song: Meen Ghayri Ana (Noss elKawn) from Bitfakar Fi Eih?! and its Acapella and Karaoke versions in three commercials.
2009
DAMAS's youth-inspired set called "Farfasha", which are gold collections from the World Gold Council said to be chosen by Nancy herself, was promoted by her in three different campaigns. Each campaign had a new collection for the set and a song, commercial, and music video:
2006 Ana Yalli ("I'm The One") from Atabtab
2007 Elli Kan ("All That Was") from Atabtab
2008 Ebn el Giran ("The Neighbor's Son) from Bitfakar Fi Eih?!
2009
Nancy has participated in numerous charity events and concerts that she considers a priority in her music career. In the year 2006, Nancy opened an organization under the name "Jam'iyat Nancy Ajram Al-Khayria" (Nancy Ajram's Charity Organization) in Beirut, Lebanon, that works on collecting and distrubing money for the poor. Nancy also released a song about peace "Resala Ilal Aalam" (A Message to the World) in her children's album as a music video, which was rumored to be presented to the Unicef.
In June 2008, Nancy participated in The Big Ball, a charity event in Dubai which raised over Dhs 940,000 for helping underprivelaged children [8] by auctioning one of her favourite dresses and encouraging children's fund raising events; she announced, "The Big Ball is doing a wonderful thing and I'm happy to support it. I'm coming for my love of children and because I want to help underprivileged children find a happy place in this world. Children inspired my latest album "Shakhbat Shakhabit" and especially the song "Resala lel3alam" (A Message to the World)." [9] Ajram, however, continues to refuse announcing her other charitable projects to the public.
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| Persondata | |
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| NAME | Ajram, Nancy Nabil |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | نانسي نبيل عجرم |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Lebanese pop singer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 16, 1983 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Beirut, Lebanon |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |