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Nancy Ajram نانسي عجرم
Background information
Born	May 16, 1983 (1983-05-16) (age 25)
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-award winning^{citation needed} Lebanese pop folk singer.

Ajram is going to marry dentist Fadi Hasham.^[1]

Early life and beginnings

Ajram was born in Ashrafiyeh, Lebanon on May 16th, 1983. 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.

Fame and stardom

A marking point in Nancy's career was when she started cooperating with her business manager . Lamara, who was highly impressed by Nancy's vocal abilities when she was just a little girl, met with her 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 Fantastic"). 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, was also a marking point in Nancy's career. The tremendous success "Ah w Noss" achieved stablized 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 Middle East 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 videos released, eight radio hits, and five songs used for commercials.

Main article: Atabtab

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 campain, 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.

Ajram's sixth album was fully dedicated to children with a variety of songs aimed towards teaching children good values and morals. 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 Yey and Ana Yalli trio (Nizar Francis, Samir Sfeir, and Tarek Madkour) and appeared with its Karaoke and Acapella versions in the commercials. Insider news also featured an exclusive part of "Lamset Eed" (Touch of a Hand) while Nancy was recording it with the same trio behind Ehsas Jdeed. Nancy released her seventh studio album after several delays on July 30th 2008, which has been highly anticipated by fans for more than two years. The album is expected to be Nancy's biggest hit, including lots of surprises and changes in her style towards a much more mature image for Nancy. In June 2008, Jiji announced the filming of a video for a song called "Aktar w Aktar". Other leaked news 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".

Awards & Nominations

2003 Murex D'or Award - Best Female Lebanese Singer of the year

2003 Murex D'or Award - Best Video of the Year: Ya Salam - Nadine Labaki

2004 Arabian Music Awards - Best Female Arab Singer of the year

2005 Newsweek List - Most Influential Arab Personalities

2006 Murex D'or Award - Most Popular Female Arab Singer of the year

2006 Murex D'or Award - Best Video of the Year: Ehsas Jdeed - Said elMarouk

2007 Certificate from the Pope of Rome

2007 Mobinil Music Awards - Best Female Arab Singer of the year

2007 Arab Business List - Most Influential Contemporary Female Singer.

Discography

Studio Albums

• 1998: Mihtagalak
• 2001: Sheel Oyoonak Anni
• 2003: Ya Salam
• 2004: Ah W Noss
• 2006: Ya Tabtab...Wa Dallaa
• 2007: Shakhbat Shakhabit [Children's Album]
• 2008: Betfakkar Fi Eih?!

DVD's & live albums

• 2004: Live at the Jarash Festival [DVD]
• 2005: Ma La Ta'arifunahu 3an Nancy Ajram [DVD]
• 2006: Ah w Noss: Collector's Edition [CD and DVD]
• 2006: Ya Salam: Collector's Edition [CD and DVD]
• 2007: Shakhbat Shakhabit [DVD]
• 2008: ElDonya Helwa - Live [Live CD]
• 2008: The Best of Nancy Clips [DVD]

Non-Album Singles

Nancy released several songs dedicated to special countries in the Arab world, starting with "Kuwait alShahama" in 2005. 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. In the 2007 "Nahr el Bared" war, Nancy dedicated a song composed by Samir Sfeir to the Lebanese Army, called "Khalleej Bwejj elGhadab".

Nancy's Non-Album Singles:

• Habib El-Omr
• Ahly W Zamalik
• ElDhameer El 3arabi
• Kuwait El Shahama
• 3agbal
• Khalleek Bwejj elGhadab
• ElDonya Helwa (featured in the Live album only)

Nancy also participated in the following group works:

• Il7a2ni (Follow Me) for the Lebanese Marathon.
• La Ma Khelset El Hekaya (It's Not Over) after the assassination of late president Rafiq elHariri.
• ElDhameer el 3arabi (The Arab Conscience) the sequel to the well-known "elHelm al3arabi" along with more than 100 artists.

Videography

Main article: Nancy Ajram videography

Music Videos

Mihtagalak

• Mihtagalak

Sheel Oyoonak Anni

• Sheel Oyoonak Anni

Ya Salam

• Akhasmak ah Director: Nadine Labaki
• Nasseto Garho
• Ya Salam 2003 Director: Nadine Labaki
• Yay (Sehr 3youno) 2003 Director: Nadine Labaki

Ah W Noss

• Ah W Noss 2004 Director: Nadine Labaki
• Lawn Oyounak 2004 Director: Nadine Labaki
• Oul Tany Keda 2005 Director: Luca Tommassini
• Enta Eih 2005 Director: Nadine Labaki

Ya Tabtab...Wa Dallaa

• Ya Tabtab...Wa Dallaa 2006 - Director: Nadine Labaki
• Moegaba 2006 - Director: Mike Lipscombe, Harry Rankin
• Ana Yalli 2006 - Director: Pascal D'Ash
• Ehsas Jdeed 2006 - Director: Said El Marouk
• Elli Kan 2007 - Director: Diamentino Ferriera
• Mishtaga Leik 2007 - Director: Mirna Khayyat

Shakhbat Shakhabit

• Three videos in one Shakhbat Shakhabit/Katkouta/Shater also featuring Eid Milad

Director: Said elMarouk

• Resala Ilal 3alam Director: Fadi Haddad

Betfakkar Fi Eih

• Betfakkar Fi Eih Director: Said el Marouk

Non-album tracks and other video appearances

• La Ma Khelset El Hekaya (Along with other singers)
• Il7a2ni/Follow Me (Along with other singers)
• El Dhameer el 3arabi (Along with other singers)
• Habib El-Omr
• Khallek B Wejj El Ghadab

Commercials

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.

Coca-Cola

2005 "Concert": Oul Tani Keda (Say That Again?) from Ah W Noss. Commercial and music video.

2005 "Tickle" and "Marylin Munroe"

and 2006 "Wink" Using instrumentals of Lawn 3younak ("The Color of Your Eyes") from Ah W Noss in three commercials:

2005 "Circus": Moegaba (Admirer) from her then upcoming album Atabtab. Commercial and music video.

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", "Playful", & "Thirsty" using Meen Gheyri Ana (Noss elKawn) and its Acapella and Karaoke versions from her upcoming album in three commercials.

DAMAS & World Gold Council

DAMAS's youth-inspired set called "Farfasha" was promoted by Nancy in three different campaigns:

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?!

Criticism and controversy

• Many rumors of boycotts against Ajram's concerts filled the internet, although none appeared to be true.^[2]

• In October 2003, a riot broke out outside a concert by Ajram in Bahrain. Islamists from the country's main opposition parties, including Al Wefaq, attacked concert goers. Al Wefaq's leaders defended the action, as it was the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.^[3] In May 2006, Ajram returned to perform in Bahrain without any incidents.

• On her official website, Nancy Ajram has apologized^[4][5] for anti-Iranian remarks^[6] falsely attributed to her on a website posing as her homepage.

• Nancy Ajram has expressed extreme anger towards recent circulating rumors in Egypt regarding the spread of nude photos of her on mobile phones. A large number of youths around Egypt and around the Arab world have been spreading nude photos of the singer supposedly taken at a women's spa for a full body wax.^[7]

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ Arab Pop Video: "Weapon of Singing Destruction"?, Associated Press, October 23, 2003.Retrieved November 23, 2006
3. ^ Arab Pop Video: "Weapon of Singing Destruction"?, Associated Press, October 23, 2003. Retrieved November 23, 2006
4. ^ RadioJavan.com - News - "Nancy Ajram Apologized For Fake Message"
5. ^ Nancy Ajram Official website - Response contained under "News" section
6. ^ Nancyajram.com Retrieved on July 1 2007
7. ^ albawaba.com middle east news information::Nancy Ajram innocent of posing in the nude

Further reading

• Fiascos affect Arab music awards, 17 May, 2004 BBC (Ajram voted best newcomer)
• Sexy stars push limits in Egypt, By Heather Sharp, 4 August 2005, BBC
• Conservatism threatens Kuwaiti reforms, By Jonathan Fryer, 21 January 2006, BBC. (Ajram banned in Kuwait)
• Arab youth revel in pop revolution by Sebastian Usher, 21 May 2007, BBC

External links

• nancy Music
• Official website
• Nancy Ajram's music lyrics, their translation and videos on Shawshara.com