84 Facts About Dalida

Dalida's music charted in many countries in Europe and Latin America.

Dalida collaborated with singers such as Julio Iglesias, Charles Aznavour, Johnny Mathis and Petula Clark.

Dalida was deeply disturbed by the suicide of her partner Luigi Tenco in 1967.

Dalida was born Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti in Cairo, Kingdom of Egypt, on 17 January 1933.

Dalida's father Pietro Gigliotti and mother Filomena Giuseppina were born in Serrastretta, Calabria, Italy.

Dalida underwent eye operations between the ages of three and five.

Dalida graduated in 1951, and began working as a copy typist in a pharmaceutical company the same year.

Dalida's first residence was a room in an apartment belonging to Gastyne's friend, the impresario Vidal.

Dalida met with a number of directors and auditioned for movie roles, but failed each time.

Dalida was strict and used to yell, with Dalila responding even more loudly.

On 9 April 1956, Dalida participated in the singing contest, performing "".

Together with their friend Coquatrix, they were greatly impressed after Dalida won the contest, and arranged a meeting with her.

On 2 May 1956 in Barclay's office at 20, Dalida signed a renewable one-year contract, with a modest percentage on record sales, with the promise of increasing it if the expected success was accomplished.

Dalida planned to promote her through a series of concerts, including two concerts at the Olympia, two weeks in Bobino, and a tour of the provinces.

The reappearance of this video in the 1970s made the moment notable, and the public started to consider it iconic that Dalida dared to do such a thing on television during such a conventional time in society.

Dalida then started to perform more frequently in France, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Dalida performed in Algiers during the summer, supporting the morale of French soldiers fighting the Algerian War, and held a new series of galas in France and Belgium that regularly ended with two hours of autograph signing.

In late 1958, Dalida returned to film in her first on-screen role in four years, playing the supporting role of a singer-spy in the mystery film.

On 26 December 1958 Dalida was in New York with Morisse where they met Norman Granz, the American impresario of Ella Fitzgerald, who invited her to Hollywood and offered a fifteen-year contract to launch her career in the United States.

Dalida quickly rejected the offer, saying that she wanted to focus on her musical career in France where she was already well known with a secure fan base.

Dalida toured extensively in 1959, playing sold-out dates in France, Egypt, Italy and Germany.

Dalida understood five languages and interpreted her songs in eleven languages: German, Egyptian Arabic, English, Lebanese Arabic, Spanish, French, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese and Dutch.

In late summer, Dalida was back in the studio to record her first major international hit.

Dalida performed in successful sold-out concerts in Berlin, Athens and Cairo, delivering a sentimental performance in front of a crowd in the Rivoli cinema that she frequented as a child.

Dalida began 1960 with "", which became a chart-topper in France and Belgium in February.

Dalida eventually recorded it in five different languages and made a video to be shown on TV,.

Back in France, Dalida was not pleased by the emergence of the new musical style ye-ye, as the new singers would only briefly occupy the charts and then disappear.

Dalida then completed a year-long world tour, performing in countries across Europe, in Canada and in several Arab states.

In January 1961, Dalida covered The Drifters' "Save the last dance for me" as "", reaching the top two.

The movie features several other recordings by Dalida, including the posthumously released "".

Rihoit wrote: "sealing her appearance of the early 60's, since it is her first color film, all the power and acting potential that Dalida carries in herself and transmits to the screen is clearly visible".

Under the direction of the young Claude Lelouch, who later became one of the most acclaimed French directors, Dalida dressed as a soldier and walked through a war-torn forest in the middle of bombing accompanied by real scenes from the Second World War.

Dalida spent 1963 making live appearance all over the world and dedicating herself more to the young Canadian public, as ye-ye was experiencing its greatest success in France during this period.

Dalida's world tour was a success, with sold-out concerts in Europe from Portugal to Poland, Canada, Asia, Fort-de-France, Latin America and Arabian countries.

Dalida dedicated the late summer period to filming, spending three months in Hong Kong filming in the B movie in which she starred alongside Serge Gainsbourg.

In January 1963 at Cortina d'Ampezzo, Dalida was awarded with the Oscar Mondiale del Successo dei Juke Box award for the most listened artist on jukeboxes in Europe.

The French leg of the tour started on 11 April 1964, during which Dalida traveled 30,000 kilometers solely by car over its five-month run, and had a public attendance in excess of 200,000.

Dalida was awarded with a platinum disc for surpassing sales of over 10 million records since her debut in 1956.

Back on world tour in 1965, Dalida held concerts in Fort-de-France where she was welcomed by more than 20,000 enthusiastic Martinicans.

The next day, Dalida herself rewarded Juliana Brown, the winner of the Dalida Song Contest which had brrn established in her honour.

In June 1965, Dalida recorded "", a song from the 1964 movie Zorba the Greek, which became her biggest international success since "" in early 1961.

The year debuted with a number-one hit in Latin America, "El Cordobes", which was a product of a collaboration with bullfighter Manuel Benitez, to whom Dalida dedicated the song as they had a brief affair.

Dalida returned to the wide screen, with a supporting role in the satirical French movie that included the unreleased song "".

Under the influence of stage fright and alcohol, Tenco delivered a poor performance, while Dalida concluded the evening with an ovation, but eventually they were eliminated in the first round.

In September, Dalida issued her first compilation album De Bambino a Il silenzio, collecting her hits from 1956 to 1965, which was one of the first greatest hits albums.

Dalida came back to film for her first main role in five years, in Italian romantic drama, acting as stewardess Judy alongside Alberto Lupo.

In 1969, during the third leg that started on 9 January in Milan, for the first time in career Dalida performed in Yugoslavia and in Africa.

Dalida was awarded with MIDEM, award for the best selling artist of the year in Italy, and her first Radio Luxembourg singer of the year award, which she went on to win for several more times.

Dalida's last record released under Barclay label was, an EP released on 15 April 1970.

The song became Dalida's another, staying three weeks atop of French sales charts during summer and gaining gold certification in a month.

In October 1971, Dalida intended to book herself at Olympia for her big Parisian comeback after four years.

Bruno Coquatrix did not believe in her change of style and refused to produce the show so Dalida rented and paid the venue by herself.

Dalida again triumphed, with public and critics plebiscite new repertoire nicknaming her "the queen of the theater" and "a modern Phaedra".

Dalida continued to choose her new songs only for their poetic value, but still paid less attention to their commercial promotion, again traveling to Asia to develop a better understanding of herself.

Dalida came back to high sales in September 1972 with "", a cover of Godfathers title song.

In late 1972, Dalida recorded duet "" with her longtime friend Alain Delon whom she picked on her own.

The renditions of the song during the future years left a huge impact on French society and shaped an image of Dalida, described by Vanity Fair as "ultimate drama queen".

Around the same time, the popularity of variety shows increasing in France and Dalida started making television appearances on a weekly basis there and across Europe.

Dalida continued touring the world, including the US, for the second time since the 1950s, by playing two nights in New York City's Carnegie Hall in November 1978.

In 1979, Dalida recorded her biggest disco hit, "", written by Toto Cutugno.

In total, Dalida performed for three hours per day for fifteen days with ten costume changes and twelve dancers in front of an audience of around 90,000 people.

Dalida toured in the whole Western and Eastern Europe except Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union.

Dalida left disco and started singing slower, moody, deep-minded songs with typical 1980s instruments.

Dalida refused to be a model for Marianne of France.

Dalida was growing older, yet she launched a new world tour in 1982, spending most of the years from 1982 to 1984 playing sold-out concerts Rio de Janeiro to Europe and Asia.

Dalida made a lot of TV appearances in the 1980s almost every second week.

Dalida successfully engaged to keep the new radio station NRJ on air through her connections.

Dalida underwent two major eye operations in 1985 and put her career on hold as the stage lights started to become difficult for her to endure.

Dalida released "", a cover of George Michael's "Last Christmas".

In early 1985, Dalida occasionally performed live and made numerous TV appearances.

Dalida returned to France to promote it in late 1985.

Dalida did promote the album but not as well as she used to do previously, due to issues in her private life which had never been worse since 1967.

Dalida, therefore, began spending more and more time alone at home or going out with friends to pass the time, further neglecting her career.

Dalida ceased to create new material in the recording studio, instead devoting herself to perform concerts.

Once again organising a lot of concerts on a monthly basis and singing her previously known hits, Dalida was then known for the amazing "show" performances, wearing her wardrobe from 1980 to 1982.

Dalida's performance was not recorded by the national television of Turkey which was the only TV channel in the country.

Dalida was found by Dalida in his hotel room with a bullet wound in his left temple and a note announcing that his gesture was against the jury and public's choices during the competition.

Dalida spent five days in a coma and several months convalescing.

Dalida had contributed to his success in France when he opened concerts for her in 1971 at L'Olympia.

Dalida is viewed as a gay icon in France and the Middle East.

In 2003, for the award "Greatest Singer of the Century" in France, Dalida was placed third after Madonna and Celine Dion.

Dalida's output has been the subject of various remix albums.

Since her death, many of Dalida's hits have been remixed to modern techno and dance beats.

In 2009, Lara Fabian said that Dalida had influenced her the most.