Layla Mourad

Layla Mourad

She was born in Al Zaher in Abbasia, Cairo in February 1917 to a Jewish Iraqi father, Ibrahim Zaki Mordachi, a famous singer and musician in the twenties, and to a Jewish Polish mother, Gamilah “Salmon” who gave birth to Mourad, Ibrahim, Malak, Mounir and Samihah. Her brother Mounir Mourad was an Egyptian actor. Dawoud Hosni helped her start her career by composing her first song. However, her true discovery was when the prominent Egyptian composer Mohamed Abdel Wahab heard her singing and gave her a role in his film Yahia el Hob in 1938. She converted to Islam before beginning her career in show-business, changing her name to Layla Mourad. Many of her family members followed suit. Layla Mourad gave up acting and singing by the end of the 1950s with a legacy of 1200 songs.

Murad married Anwar Wagdi (1945-1953) and converted to Islam after marriage. They got separated and got back together 3 times. After the third divorce from Wagdi, Layla married the Egyptian major Muhammad Wagih Abaza, officer of the Revolution’s Council of Leadership. He is a descendant of the well-renowned Abaza family . she had Ashraf by him, and later got divorced. Then she married the producer Fateen Abdul Wahab where she gave birth to her son Zaki Fattin Abdul Wahab and they were divorced in 1969. She died in a hospital in Cairo in 1995. She was honored in Cairo International Film Festival in 1998 and granted an honor certificate.

Her famous songs include:
"Ya msafer we nassi hawak"
"Albi dalleli"
"leeh khaletni ahebak"
"Elmaya we el hawa"
"Ya aaz mn Ainy"
"Sanaten wana ahayel feek"
"Etmakhtary"
"El Hob Gameel"
"Monaya fi Korbak"
"Abgad Hawaz"
"Einy Betref", a duet with the Egyptian actor "Naguib AlRaihani"