Elissa
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Elissar Zakaria Khoury (Arabic: إليسار زكريا خوري) was born on October 27, 1971 in Deir el Ahmar, Lebanon. She is best known as Elissa (Arabic: إليسا) who is a Lebanese singer with multiple Arabic and International awards. She is one of the most well-known female singers in the Arab world and considered as the best selling female pop-artist in the Middle East.
Famous for her passionate style of music and unique vocal capabilities, Elissa is often referred to as the "Queen Of Romance" and "Queen Of Feelings". Elissa was the first Lebanese musician to win World Music Award in 2005 and 2006 for best selling albums in Middle East.
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[edit] About
[edit] Biography
Elissa was born to Lebanese father and a Syrian mother, Elissa was raised in the The Bekaa valley in Lebanon. She earned a degree in Political Science from the Lebanese University. Elissa is a Maronite Catholic. Elissa's father, Zakaria Khoury, who studied and taught Arabic literature, died of cancer in 2004. Elissa has 3 brothers and 2 sisters, and she is the fifth child. Elissa usually mentions her brother Kamil, who's a DJ.
Elissa is still single and has not married yet. She has stated many time that she is looking for love. Although all of her relationships had failed, Elissa still believes in love and dreams of marriage and creating a family with the right guy. She also states that look does not matter that much to her. But confidence, love, respect, sense of humor and politeness are all what Elissa looks for in the man.
[edit] Music career
[edit] Originality Sincerity and Emotion
Not many Arab divas have Elissa's combination of sincere interpretation, originality and emotion in their voices. Those became her trademarks, along with her "sweet and sour" husky tone of voice. Elissa's vocal range belongs to the mezzo-soprano register she started taking vocal exercises with the "Star Academy Lebanon" under Wadih Raad as her Vocal Coach. He showed her the way to sing without hurting her vocal cords. Nonetheless, Wadih was very bright and careful in preserving her special timbre. The singer's talent is a 100% innate while others flaunt their vocal virtuosity (backed by years of apprenticeship of the complex Arabic music and Maquams), Elissa just grabs the mic and let go all of her feelings. Some may accuse her of singing out of tune, but Elissa is not just a mere conservatoire student doing her solfeggio homework, she is just reciting poetry. Grand names had praised Elissa's genuine performance from Ragheb Alama who was the first to fall under Elissa's vocal spell saying she have got the timbre of the sensitive and sensuous woman on a such basis she asked to sing the duet with her, Majida El Roumi stated that she feels enormous pleasure while seeing Elissa on the stage. Likewise, Leila Ghofran declared that she is among Elissa's voice admirers especially because of her sensitive and authentic interpretaion, Marie Sleiman said that Elissa has got a lot of class, Micheline Khalifé also revealed her appreciation of Elissa's style and talent.
[edit] Early Career Success
Elissa's first forays into art and artistic activities consister of acting in theatres of political critique, namely with well-known Chansonnier Wassim Tabbara, and the "Theatre de 10 Heures". This was the first time she came in contact with an audience, the overwhelming warmth of which she immediately took to.
Her theatrical beginnings jayjay motivated her to move on to singing, which she did in 1992-3, when she participated in "Studio Al Fan". The show was broadcasted on LBCI, one of the most renowned TV stations in the Middle East. Elissa won a silver medal over the course of her in the program. Following this, she performed in concert tirelessly until 1999, when Lido Productions released her first album, 'Baddy Doub'. Elissa debut on the commercial music scene was an event of considerable importance. The album was a success, and featured a smash hit with famous French gypsy act, Gerard Ferrer. The release of this first album took her straight to Cannes, to participate in the International Music Festival of 2000.
[edit] Rise to Fame
Following this first success, Elissa released her second album, 'W'akherta Maak' in 2000, which in turn included the hit duet 'Bitghib Betrouh', sung with Lebanese superstar Ragheb Alameh. 'Bitghib Betrouh' was a massive hit, and is still being played on radio and TV today, more than three years after its initial release, which is also went on to sell more than 200,000 copies.
Elissa had a duet with the international artist Chris De Burgh in an Arabic-English song titled “Lebanese Nights”, which was written, composed and distributed by DeBurgh. He decided to sing it with a Lebanese singer, and chose Elissa. The song was recorded in London and released in DeBurgh's 2002 Album, Timing Is Everything.
Her third album Ayshalak was released in June 2002 supported by a video clip filmed in Paris by French director Fabrice Begotti, wardrobe and make up by Christian Dior. Elissa was the first Arab figure to represent Christian Dior. The video and the song both gained huge success, and with the aid of the composer/arranger Jean-Marie Riachi, Elissa was able to follow with another hit "Agmal Ehsas", which was Elissa's second single from Ayshalak. The video clip was directed by the Lebanese director, Selim El Turk. In 2002, Elissa won the Murex d'Or award for best female artist and the "Ajmal Ihsas" clip won the best video clip at the Arabic music awards.
Elissa’s fourth album, Ahla Donya was released in 2004. This was one of the fastest selling albums ever in the Arab world. This album was the first under Elissa's contract with Rotana, the music production company. The album included a variety of songs, such as Koll Youm Fi Omry, Erga' Lel Shoa', Hobbak Waja' (Inta Lameen) and Ahla Donya. In 2005, Elissa won the World Music Award as best selling artist of the Middle east for the sales of "Ahla Dounia" CD and was the first Lebanese to win this award. In 2005, a Special Collector's Edition of the record was made available (1000 copies) with state-of-the-art packaging including a mini-biography.
In early 2006, Elissa released her fifth studio effort, the album Bastanak, which has sold nearly 3.7 million copies, according to Rotana. In 2006 Elissa won for the second year in a row the World Music Award as best selling artist of the Middle East for the sales of "Bastanak" CD. A Deluxe-Limited Edition for the album was released in the late 2007, it included a book about Elissa's biography and awards she got till that time. Also a DVD for 2 videos for Elissa from this album, "Law Ta3rafo" and "Bastannak", with another book that holds the pictures of their making-off. This edition included also a remix for 'Kermalak" song.
In 2007 she had a hit with the song "Halili", a duet with Cheb Mami.
Her sixth album called Ayami Beek was released in December 2007 by Rotana. The album has gained extraordinary success in the Arab world and is considered the most selling album in 2008 and still is in the charts in all of the Arab countries. The album stayed at #1 for 10 consecutive months at Virgin Megastores acroos the Arab World. ,Also the album chartted #1 at Virgin France for Arabian CDs. Her first single of the album, "Betmoun" debuted at number 1 on Rotana's PEPSI Top 20 Charts, making it the 2nd song ever in the charts to debut at number 1, even though the song dropped to number 5 the following week.
The Second single, 'Awakher El Shita" had a big success among the Arabian countries, although its Video which was directed by Waleed Nassif and didn't gain big success as "Betmoun" video.
[edit] New Projects
Elissa's new album was released on Dec 26th 2009, titled as "Tesadaq Bmien".The album sold 3000 copies in Beirut in the first hours of its release.It charted on #1 at all Virgin Charts in the Arab World, for 12 consecutive weeks (Dec.26 - till today).It also sold 750+ million copies per 3 months and its was certified as a multi-platinum album considered to be one of the best album ever done by Elissa
[edit] Awards
| Year | Award | Category |
| 1992 | Studio Al Fann | Silver Medal |
| 2002 | Murex D'or | Best Female Artist of the Year |
| 2003 | Best Arabic Female Singer | Best Arabic Female Singer |
| 2004 | Alahram Newspaper | Best Selling Album for a female singer in Egypt |
| 2004 | LG Music Festival Award | Best SInger |
| 2005 | AUST University Honor | Best Lebanese Singer |
| 2005 | World Music Awards | Best Middle East Selling Artist |
| 2005 | Murex D'or | Best Female Artist of the Year |
| 2005 | Alaghani Radio Station | Best Female Arabic Act |
| 2005 | Zahret El Khalej Award | Best Character of the Year |
| 2006 | World Music Awards | Best Middle East Selling Artist |
| 2007 | Professional Artists Lebanese Union | Honorable Award |
| 2008 | Middle East Music Award | Best Female Arab Artist |
| 2008 | Google.com | Best Searched Arab Singer |
| 2009 | Murex D'or | Best Lebanese Song for "Betmoun" |
| 2009 | Murex D'or | Best Video for "Betmoun" |
[edit] News
[edit] Announcements
There are no announcements for the artist.
[edit] Tours and Concerts
There are no tour and concert schedules for the artist.
[edit] Discography
Comprehensive listings of recordings made by Elissa since 1999 till 2010.
[edit] Albums
 February 1, 1999 |
 September 2000 |
 June 2002 |
 May 6, 2004 Rotana Records |
 February 16, 2006 Rotana Records |
 December 18, 2007 Rotana Records |
 December 26,2009 Rotana Records |
[edit] Singles
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 1998 | Baddi Doub |
| 2000 | W'akherta Ma'ak |
| 2001 | Betghib, Betrouh |
| 2002 | Lebanese Nights |
| 2002 | Ayshalak |
| 2002 | Ajmal Ihssas |
| 2004 | Kol Youm Fi Omry |
| 2004 | Erga' Le Shou' |
| 2005 | Hobak Waja' |
| 2006 | Bastanak |
| 2007 | Law Ta'arafouh |
| 2008 | Bitmoun |
| 2009 | Awakher el Sheta |
| 2009 | Tesadaq Bemien |
| 2010 | Aa Bali Habibi |
[edit] Videography
|
Year | Title | Album | Director |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | "Baddi Doub" (Ft. Gerard Ferrer) | Baddi Doub | Marc Hadifé |
| 2000 | "W'akherta Ma'ak" | W'akherta Ma'ak | |
| 2001 | "Betghib, Betrouh" (Ft. Ragheb Alama)" | ||
| 2002 | "Lebanese Nights" (Chris DeBurgh Ft. Elissa) | Timing Is Everything | Salim El Turk |
| "Ayshalak" | Ayshalak | Fabric Begotti | |
| "Ajmal Ihssas" | Salim El Turk | ||
| 2004 | "Kol Youm Fi Omry" | Ahla Donya | Said El Marouk |
| "Erga' Le Shou'" | Brandon Dickerson | ||
| 2005 | "Hobak Waja' [Inta Lameen]" | Salim El Turk | |
| 2006 | "Bastanak" | Bastanak | Brandon Dickerson |
| 2007 | "Law Ta'arafouh" | Yannick Saillet | |
| 2008 | "Bitmoun" | Ayami Beek | Waleed Nassif |
| 2009 | Awakher el Sheta |
[edit] Other artists
[edit] Similar artists
- Nancy Ajram
- Yara
- Wael Kfouri
- Fadel Shaker
[edit] Influences
[edit] Contemporaries
[edit] Trivia
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[edit] Reviews
[edit] External Links
