Dalida

Biography

Dalida, born Yolanda Christina Gigliotti, was a renowned singer and actress whose career spanned over four decades. She was born in Shoubra, Cairo, Egypt, to an Italian family. Her father, Pietro Gigliotti, was a violinist at the Cairo Opera House. Dalida began her career as a model after winning the Miss Egypt pageant in 1954, which led her to Paris to pursue acting. She adopted the stage name Dalida and became a prominent figure in the music industry, performing in over ten languages, including French, Italian, Arabic, and German. Throughout her career, she recorded 19 number one hit singles and sold an estimated 130 million records worldwide, making her one of the most significant multilingual recording artists of the 20th century. Dalida's linguistic abilities included fluency in Italian, Arabic, and French, along with conversational skills in English, German, and Spanish.