Dalida (Born Iolanda Gigliotti)
January 17, 1933 – May 3, 1987
Dalida was an Egyptian born pop singer who actually performed and recorded in over ten languages. She was award 55 gold records over her career. When she was in her 20s, Dalida worked as a model and won the Miss Egypt title in 1954. From there she moved to Paris with dreams of being an actress, but after that didn’t pan out, Dalida turned her focus on music. Her singing career exploded after the release of her second single, “Bambino,” which went on the become one of the biggest selling records in French history. Twenty years later, she released what is considered France’s first disco record. Dalida toured fairly regularly up until the mid ’80s, a popular draw in Europe and Asia. Despite all of her success, Dalida stuggled with internal demons leading to her suicide by barbiturates on May 3, 1987.