Mohamed Fawzi (singer)

He was born in the village of Kafr Abu Gundi, in the Qutur district of Gharbia Governorate. He was the twenty-first of twenty-five children, including the singers Huda Sultan and Hind Allam. Mohamed Fawzi received his primary education at Tanta School in 1931. He was drawn to music and singing from a young age, learning the fundamentals of music from Mohamed El-Kharbatli, a firefighter and friend of his father, who used to take him along to sing at religious festivals, celebrations, and weddings. He was influenced by the songs of Mohamed Abdel Wahab and Umm Kulthum, and he would perform their songs for people in the Montazah Gardens and at the city's celebrations of the Mawlid of Sayyid al-Badawi.^[7][8]

After completing his preparatory education, he enrolled in the Fouad I Institute of Music in Cairo. Two years later, he left his studies to work at the nightclub owned by the sisters Ratiba and Insaf Rushdi. Later, Badia Masabni lured him to work at her establishment, where he met Farid al-Atrash, Mohamed Abdel-Mottaleb, and Mahmoud El-Sherif (composer). He formed a close friendship with them, composing and performing sketches and revues, which later proved beneficial to his film career. At the age of twenty, he auditioned for the radio as both a singer and composer, following in the footsteps of Farid al-Atrash,^[9] who had done so two years prior. He failed as a singer but succeeded as a composer, just like Mahmoud El-Sherif, who had also succeeded as a composer.^[10]

He arrived in Cairo in 1938, and his life there was somewhat turbulent for a while before he began working with Badia Masabni's troupe, then Fatima Rushdi's troupe, and finally the National Theatre Troupe.^[11][12]

Singing was Mohamed Fawzi's passion, so he decided to revive the works of Sayed Darwish as a springboard to his own compositions, which filled his mind. His opportunity arose when the Egyptian Acting and Music Troupe contracted him as an actor and singer, replacing Ibrahim Hamouda in Sayed Darwish's play "Scheherazade." However, he failed in his first performance despite the guidance of director Zaki Tuleimat and the musical direction of Mohamed Hassan El-Shuja'i. This left him disheartened, especially in front of an unforgiving audience. He withdrew from the scene for a while until actress Fatima Rushdi, who admired him and believed in his talent, offered him a position in her troupe as an actor, composer, and singer. He gratefully accepted her offer. In 1944, Youssef Wahbi asked him to play a small role in the film "The Executioner's Sword," in which he would sing two songs composed by Wahbi. Wahbi stipulated that he use only his given name (Mohamed Fawzi Habes Abdel Aal El-Haw) and simply "Mohamed Fawzi," to which he agreed without hesitation.^[13][14]

Director Mohamed Karim saw "The Executioner's Sword" and was looking for a new face to play the lead role in his film "The Happy Ones" opposite Suleiman Naguib and the singer Raja Abdo. He found what he was looking for in Mohamed Fawzi, but stipulated that he undergo cosmetic surgery to correct his slightly flat upper lip. Fawzi complied, and later discovered that Mohamed Karim had been right. His success in "The Happy Ones" was unexpectedly great, and this success helped him establish his own film company, Mohamed Fawzi Films, in 1947.^{[citation needed]}

Egyptian radio, which had rejected him as a singer, continued to broadcast his film songs without ever considering signing him. After the July 1952 Revolution, he made a strong entry into radio with his patriotic songs, such as "My Country, I Loved You, My Country," and religious songs like "O Oft-Returning, O Forgiving," and "My God, How Just You Are." He also sang children's songs such as "Mama's Coming Soon" and "The Night Has Gone," which he performed in the film "Miracle of Heaven." He also participated with Madiha Yousri, Emad Hamdi, Shadia, Farid Shawqi, and Huda Sultan in the "Mercy Train" trips, which the revolution ordered to run in 1953 between the governorates of Lower and Upper Egypt. He and other artists performed to comfort patients in hospitals and social welfare centers.^[15]

Fawzi sang many songs he composed for a number of films, and he also composed for many singers of his era, such as Mohamed Abdel-Mottaleb, Laila Mourad, Nazik, Huda Sultan, Najah Salam, and many others.^[16][17]

In 1956, two Algerian officials traveled to Egypt and met with Mohamed Fawzi at the Voice of the Arabs radio station. They asked him to compose the Algerian national anthem, but Mohamed Abu al-Futuh, head of the Moroccan section at the station, objected to Fawzi, deeming him a weak composer unsuitable for the task. Fawzi took this as a questioning of his abilities and talent and presented the anthem "Kassaman," composing the Algerian national anthem that remains in use to this day.^[18][19]

In 1958, Fawzi was able to establish the Masrafon Company for record production. He dedicated himself to managing it, which was considered a major blow to foreign record companies that were selling records for ninety piasters, while Fawzi's company sold them for thirty-five piasters. His company produced songs by the leading singers of that era, such as Umm Kulthum and Mohamed Abdel Wahab, among others.^[20][21]

The success of Fawzi's company and the quality of its production led the government to nationalize it in 1961 and appoint him as its director with a salary of 100 Egyptian pounds. This plunged him into severe depression, which marked the beginning of his long illness that ended with his death from bone cancer on October 20, 1966. Ahmed Al-Samahi: “Nationalization was the reason for Fawzi’s downfall. After being the owner and backbone of the company, which was his whole life, his work there began to shrink. Then one day, he went to the company and found someone at the door saying, ‘We will give you a monthly salary of one hundred pounds, and you will have an office there and be the head of the company.’ But he found his office in the room that had been a tea and coffee shop.^[22][3]

He founded the company (Masrafon), the first record company in the Middle East, which later included a studio for recording melodies and songs. The nationalization of this company in the early 1960s was one of the biggest shocks of his life, perhaps the greatest. His health problems began afterward, and he suffered from an illness that baffled doctors worldwide. He decided to travel abroad for treatment and indeed traveled to London in early 1965. He then returned to Egypt, but traveled again to Germany two months later. However, the German hospital issued a statement saying that they had not been able to determine his true illness or how to treat it, and that he was the fifth person in the world to be afflicted with this disease, which had reduced his weight to 36 kilograms. (The disease is retroperitoneal fibrosis.) Later, this disease was called "Fawzy's disease," as the German doctor named it after Mohamed Fawzy. Thus, Mohamed Fawzi entered a long and arduous battle with illness that ultimately claimed his life, until he passed away on October 20, 1966.^[23][24]

In 1943, Mohamed Fawzi married his first wife, Huda, with whom he had three children: Engineer Nabil (born 1944), Engineer Samir (born 1946), and Dr. Munir (born 1948). They divorced in 1952. Later that same year, he married the actress Madiha Yousri, with whom he had a son, Amr (born 1955). (Two of his sons with Madiha Yousri predeceased him.) They divorced in 1959. In 1960, he married his third wife, Karima (actress), and they had their youngest daughter, Iman, in 1961. She remained with him until his death.^[25][26]