Dalida

"Dalida" was a pseudonym of Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti (1933-1987), also known as يولاندا كريستينا جيجليوتي and, following French naturalisation, Yolanda Gigliotti, was a singer of Italian origin, who made her career in France. She received fifty-five gold records, and was the first female singer to get a diamond disc.

Born on the 17th January 1933 in Shoubra, Cairo, Egypt, she was the child of an opera violinist, and was given singing lessons at an early age. She developed into a beautiful young lady and, in 1954, she won the Miss Egypt beauty contest and immediately left for Paris, France, to pursue a career in motion pictures.

Despite her looks, her first films were less than successful, but she began performing in music halls and cabarets, singing in French, Italian, Arabic in which she was fluent, and other languages. Using the stage name Dalida she recorded songs; her second single titled "Bambino" brought instant fame. In 1957, she appeared at the Paris Olympia as the opening act for Charles Aznavour and later the same year for Gilbert Bécaud. She would go on to record in several languages, touring the globe including sold-out performances, in late 1978, at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

During her career, Dalida recorded 500 French songs, 200 of which were translated into Italian, and 300 into other languages. She sold more than 150 million albums world-wide, winning numerous awards, and achieving more than seventy gold records. Yet, despite her fame and fortune, her personal life was difficult and filled with much drama and tragedy. In 1961 she married her mentor Lucien Morisse, but the marriage lasted only a few months, and she left him for the painter Jean Sobieski (later the father of American actress Leelee Sobieski). A few years later, her still distraught ex-husband died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.