He convinced her to perform live at the most prestigious music and dance show in the 1960s called Adwa El Madina (City Lights) which had featured such superstars as Shadia, Abdel Halim Hafez, Fayza Ahmed, and Sabah.
Shadia Simmons | Shadia |
The singers include Oum Kalthoum, Abdel Halim Hafez, Shadia, Layla Murad, Fayza Ahmed, Aziza Jalal, Warda (he was married to Warda for about a decade), Sabah (Sabah married seven times, and he was one of her husbands), Mayada Al-Henawy, and other singers.
He composed songs for top Arab singers, foremost his own sister, Asmahan, as well as Wadih El-Safi, Shadia, Warda, and Sabah.
Faten Hamama plays Amal, the only daughter of a famous doctor, who lives with Fatimah (Shadia).
During the conflict between the Free Aceh Movement and the Indonesian government Shadia Marhaban worked as a journalist and a translator, most famously collaborating with journalist William Nessen on the documentary The Black Road in Aceh.