1935-1950s - The early years

Nouhad Haddad, later known as Fairuz, was born on 21 November 1935 in 'Jabal al Arz', Lebanon, to a modest Syriac Orthodox family. Wadi' Haddad, Fairuz's father, originally came from the city of Mardin, formerly in the Ottoman Empire, (now in Turkey), and settled in Lebanon after he married Lisa el Boustani (Fairuz's mother), a Maronite Lebanese. The family later moved to the cobblestone alley called 'Zuqaq el Blatt' in Beirut. They lived in a single room of a typical Lebanese stone house facing Beirut's Patriarchate school, and shared a kitchen with the neighbours. Wadi' worked as a typesetter in a nearby print shop and Lisa stayed home and took care of her four children, Nouhad, Youssef, Hoda and Amal.

Nouhad was a shy child and did not have many friends at school. However, she was greatly attached to her grandmother who lived in 'Debbieh', a village in the mountains of Lebanon, where Nouhad used to spend the summer. Nouhad adored the simple village life. During the day, she helped her grandmother with house chores and fetched fresh water from a nearby water spring. She used to sing all the way to the spring and back. In the evening, Nouhad used to sit by the candle light with her grandmother who used to tell her stories from her voyage to the United States.


Fairuz in 1946.By the age of ten, Nouhad was already well known at her school for her beautiful voice. She would regularly sing during school festivals and holidays. This is how she came to the attention of Mohammed Fleifel, a well known Lebanese musician and teacher at the Lebanese Conservatory, who happened to attend one of the school's celebrations in February 1950. He was greatly impressed by her voice and performance and advised her to enroll in the conservatory, which she did. At first, Nouhad's conservative father was reluctant to send his daughter to the conservatory; however, he allowed Nouhad to attend classes at the conservatory on one condition, that her brother accompany her. Nouhad's family encouraged her even though they could not afford much, and one day her father surprised her with a radio.

Fleifel cared for Nouhad's voice in a fatherly way. Most importantly, he taught her verses recitation from the Quran (Recitative style known as 'Tajweed'). And one day, prominent Lebanese musician and head of the music department at the Lebanese Radio Station Halim El Roumi (the father of famous Lebanese singer Majida El Roumi) happened to hear Nouhad sing. He was deeply impressed by her voice and noticed that it had a rare flexibility that allowed her to sing both oriental and western modes admirably. At Nouhad's request, El Roumi appointed her as a chorus singer at the radio station in Beirut and composed several songs for her. He chose for her the name 'Fairuz', which is the Arabic word for turquoise.


Fairuz and Assi Rahbani on their wedding day surrounded by members of their families, 1954.A couple of months later, Fairuz was introduced to the Rahbani brothers, Assi and Mansour, who also worked at the radio station as musicians. The chemistry was instant, and soon after, Assi started to compose songs for Fairouz, one of which was 'Itab (the third song he composed for her), which was an immediate smash hit in all of the Arab world, establishing Fairuz as one of the most prominent Arab singers on the Arabic music scene. Assi and Fairuz got married on January the 23rd 1955, and Fairuz then converted to Greek Orthodoxy (Assi's sect).

Fairuz had four children: Ziad, a musician and a composer, Layal (died in 1987 of a brain stroke), Hali (paralysed since early childhood after meningitis) and Rima, a photographer and film director.

The early works of Fairuz and the Rahbanis were innovative mixtures of oriental and foreign modes (especially Southern American music influenced by Eduardo Bianco) combining Fairuz's distinct vocal timbre with ingenious music by Assi and poetic lyrics that expressed innocent love and nostalgia for Lebanese village life.

Fairuz's first large-scale concert took place in 1957 as part of the Baalbeck International Festival, sponsored by Lebanese president Camille Chamoun. Musical operettas and sold-out concerts followed for years, establishing Fairuz indisputably as Lebanon's most beloved singer, and as one of the Arab world's most popular singers, and simply as a singer unlike any other the Arab world has ever seen.