Google celebrates birthday of late singer Abdel Halim Hafez

Google, the famous search engine, is celebrating today, June 21, the birthday of the late famous classical singer, Abdel Haklim Hafez, who died 34 years ago.

Wael Fakharani, Country Manager Google North Africa, said: “At Google, we like to reflect the ever-changing world of our users through the logo designs on our homepage. Today we celebrate the birthday of Abdel Halim Hafez, with a dedicated doodle across MENA domains.”

Abdel Halim Ali Shabana, commonly known as Abdel Halim Hafez, was Born in El-Halawat, at the Egyptian Ash Sharqiyah Governorate. His mother died from complications after giving birth to him, and his father died five months later leaving Abdel Halim and his siblings orphaned at a young age. He was raised by his uncle Metwali Amasha.

Abdel Halim joined the Arabic Music Institute in 1945, where he met his famous late friend Kamal El Taweel, before working as a music teacher in the Egyptian cities of Tanta, Zakazeek, and the Capital Cairo,  and the Egyptian broadcasting Musical Group in 1950, as an Oboe instrument player.

In 1951, Abdel Halim met lifetime friend Magdi Al Amrousi, and he was musically discovered by the famous Egyptian Announcer , Hafez Abdel Wahab, who allowed him to replace Shabana, the family name, with Hafez.

Abdel Halim sang more than 230 romantic songs, around 15 National songs and was the star in 16 movies and one drama series at the Egyptian Broadcasting.

Abdel Halim died in 1977 while undergoing treatment for Bilharzia in London,  a few months short of his 48th birthday.