Haifa Wehbe (Arabic: هيفا وهبي also spelled Haifa Wehbeh, Haifa Wahbi, Hayfa Wehbe, Hayfa Wehbi; born March 11, 1976[1]), is a Lebanese model, actress, and singer who rose to fame in the Arab world as runner up for 'Miss Lebanon' and later the release of her debut album Huwa az-Zaman (Arabic: هو الزمن It is Time).
Wehbe was born in a small farming town near Southern Lebanon.[2] She grew up listening to jazz and R&B. She became a model at a very young age and won the title of "Miss South Lebanon" at age sixteen.
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Haifa Wehbe (Arabic: هيفا وهبي also spelled Haifa Wehbeh, Haifa Wahbi, Hayfa Wehbe, Hayfa Wehbi; born March 11, 1976[1]), is a Lebanese model, actress, and singer who rose to fame in the Arab world as runner up for 'Miss Lebanon' and later the release of her debut album Huwa az-Zaman (Arabic: هو الزمن It is Time).
Wehbe was born in a small farming town near Southern Lebanon.[2] She grew up listening to jazz and R&B. She became a model at a very young age and won the title of "Miss South Lebanon" at age sixteen.
Wehbe's next distinction came in 1995 when she was runner up for Miss Lebanon. By 1996 She was seen on over 100 magazine covers. In 2006, she was on People Magazine's 50 most beautiful people list.
She released her first album, titled Huwa az-Zaman (Arabic: هو الزمن It is Time) which was a hit thanks to her debut single "Agoul Ahwak" (I say I love you)".
Her second album Baddi 'Ayš (Arabic: بدي عيش I Want to Live) was released in 2005 and lived up to expectations due to the success of its lead single "Hayat Albi." Released after the assassination of Lebanese politician Rafik Hariri, the song of the same name is about "freedom, considered to be among the most basic of human rights."[3]
Her follow-up single was her biggest hit to date, "Ana Haifa" (I am Haifa) which became her novelty song. In 2006 she released a follow up single Bus al-Wawa which so far has sold respectably.
Haifa was exclusively interviewed by CNN, Arte TV, Canal plus (France) and the first Arabic artist to perform on the Italian TV channel Rai Uno during the "Una notte a Roma" event which took place in "Piazza Navona" in Rome with the presence of top VIP celebrities and fashion designers.
Haifa performed in many concerts and special events in Lebanon and the whole world noting that her performance in Kartaba & Rayfoun in Lebanon has reached an audience of over 20,000 and in Tunisia at the Carthage Festival.
In Egypt, Haifa performed a duet with the International star, Shaggy (artist), stunning her fans both in the Middle East and abroad.
The readers of Al Jamhouria newspaper have elected Haïfa as the 'Best Arabic Young Female Singer', where statistics showed that 4 million people voted her for this title.
Haïfa won the "Golden Lion" Award in Egypt.
Haifa won the Oscar of "best video clip 2005" for her song "Baddi Ich" from her second album.
Haifa also won the "Murex d'Or" award for two consecutive years with the title "best artist of the year" 2005 and 2006.
In June 2005, Haifa launched her own jewelry line collection that she designed with world-renowned jewelers. It is sold throughout the Middle East, Gulf countries and Arab world.
In December 2005, following Elaph's site, Haifa was nominated as the personality of the year with 62% of votes.
In late 2005, Reuter has nominated Haifa as the most beautiful girl in the Middle East.
In November 2005, Haifa signed a contract with Pepsi Co. Haifa had to go to London in order to shoot an advertisement of the above along with International soccer player Thierry Henri. The advertisement will be on TV during the world cup 2006.
In February 2006, Haifa performed for the first time at "Muscat Festival". Organizers and all media were so impressed and stunned when more than Two Hundred Thousand people came to see Haifa perform. Muscat has never seen such a huge amount of people and her name was on every single newspaper and magazine who mentioned how successful the event was and how this Lebanese singer was able to break all records.
On June 10, 2006 Haifa became the first artist in the Arab world to perform with rapper 50 Cent when she performed as an opening act for his first concert in Lebanon, at BIEL in Beirut.
According to a poll conducted by Palestinian magazine 'Lilac', the most popular artist of 2007 is Lebanese singer Haifa Wehbe. It seems Haifa has a huge fan base in Palestine and that's why she topped the list!
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…shrink me down again
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