Abd el-Halim Hafez (1927-1977) was known as the "Nightingale of the Nile". In a society that generally reserves true respect for the old, it surprised everyone when Abd El-Halim Hafez took over the musical arena in his early twenties to become the golden boy of the nationalist revolution of 1952.

He came at the right time with short patriotic songs that pleased President Nasser as well as the young generation of the day who embraced him as their spokesperson. By the 1960s his new, short, light songs, with their distinct melodic style, gave way to a partnership with Mohammed Abd el-Wahaab and a return to the long classical form.

He was ill with bilharzia almost all his life, and involved the nation in his ongoing fight for good health with a vulnerability that charmed the nation. For men, he offered a rather camp alternative role in an oppressively macho society. And his little-boy-lost image had women crooning to mother him.

He died in 1977, perhaps the last superstar of the great artist's era.

Source: "World Music", the Rough Guide