Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Lebanese singer and actress Sabah, one of the Arab world's best-known entertainers, has died aged 87.

Sabah, whose real name was Jeanette Gergis Al-Feghali, first came to prominence in the 1950s as star of Egyptian movies.

During her more than six-decade long career, she released over 50 albums and acted in 98 films.

She died at her home in Beirut of an unspecified illness, reported Lebanon's National News Agency.

Sabah was the first Arab singer to perform at Olympia in Paris, Carnegie Hall in New York, Piccadilly Theatre in London and the Sydney Opera House.

Born in Bdadoun, a Lebanese town in the Baabda-Aley province, she released her first song in 1940.

The singer soon caught the eye of Egyptian film producer Asia Dagher, who immediately signed her for three films.

The first of these, El-qalb louh wahid (The Heart Has Its Reasons), made her a star - and she was known by her character's name, Sabah, ever after.

But she also acquired several affectionate nicknames, including Shahroura, Arabic for "singing bird", and "the Sabbouha," a diminutive for Sabah.

Among her most popular films were Soft Hands (1964), Ataba Square (1959) and The Second Man (1960), in which she played a cabaret singer who vows to avenge her brother's death at the hands of a smuggling ring.

The star held Egyptian, Jordanian and US citizenship as well as Lebanese, and continued to perform and make television appearances into her 80s.

At home, she was humorously mocked for refusing to leave the limelight, as well as her garish outfits and use of cosmetic surgery.
She married nine times, most most notably to Egyptian actor Roshdi Abaza and Lebanese author-director Wassim Tabbara.

Her last marriage, to Lebanese artist Fadi Lubnan, lasted 17 years.

She had two children, Dr Sabah Shammas and actress Howayda Mansy, both of whom live in the United States.