Sallam
“The journey has ended,” her daughter Samar Alattafi posted on Facebook. Image Credit: Samar Alattafi/ Facebook

Beirut: Lebanese singer and actress Najah Sallam, who surged to fame in the mid-20th century in the Middle East for her songs promoting pan-Arabism, has died, her family said Thursday. She was 92.

Sallam was born on March 13, 1931, and became popular as a singer in the 1950s.

Sallam was also a well-known actress and was involved in about a dozen Arabic-language films in the 1950s and 1960s.

In 2018, then-Lebanese President Michel Aoun honoured Sallam and other iconic artists in a celebration marking the 80th anniversary of Radio Lebanon, one of the region’s oldest radio stations.

“The journey has ended,” her daughter Samar Alattafi posted on Facebook. “Mom is under the mercy of God.”

Though she remained under the radar in her later years, Sallam's songs are still remembered and listened to across the Arab world.

Sallam's former husband, Mohammed Salman, was a famous Lebanese comedian also known around the Arab world. He died in 1997.

Sallam is survived by two daughters and a sister.