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Googoosh () (also spelled as Gogosh and Googosh and Gougoush), [born as Faegheh Atashin (Persian: <big> فائقه آتشین </big>) on February 7, 1951 in Tehran, Iran], is an Iranian pop singer and actress.
In the 1970s, she was considered the most celebrated recording artist in Iran. In addition to music, Googoosh has also acted in several Iranian films of the 1960s and 1970s; however, she is far more well-known as a singer than as an actress. After Iranian Revolution in 1979 she remained in Iran until 2000 but did not record or perform again due to the ban on solo female singers. Still, her following grew. A new generation discovered her and bought the singer's bootleg tapes.[1] Outside of Iran, she has a wide following in many Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries.[2] She currently resides in California, USA and continues her career, albeit in a limited manner. In a contrast to her earlier music, her recent albums are thought to address more mature subjects.
She was born in February 1951 on Sarcheshmeh Street, in an old and worn down part of Tehran, Her parents came from Sarab is a city in East Azarbaijan Province in Iran.[3] The name Googoosh is an Armenian boy's name and was given to her at birth. However since it was a boy's name, there was a problem registering the name on her birth certificate so she was given the name Faegheh and was registered under that name. When she was an infant, Googoosh's father divorced from her mother and due to patriarchal custody laws in Iran, she moved with her father to Tehran.[4]
Because of her father's profession - he was an acrobat and an entertainer - she grew accustomed to the stage early on, and was part of his act until she was three. She began doing impersonations of some of the singers of the time. When her father discovered this talent, he put her on stage. She has been on stage as a paid professional since she was three.[4] Spurred on by a domineering father, she performed in theatres and public functions all over Iran. She was a cute little side-kick act, which more likely amused her audience rather than entertained them. Her father was very much part of the show, because anyone who remembers her as a little performer, remembers her father and how commanding he was.[5] Those early years were not easy. Travelling from place to place and performing in front of countless people, Googoosh was subjected to things that other little girls would not have been. She was out on stage doing her routine while other children her age were in bed sleeping. Hers was definitely not a normal childhood, not even by working class standards.[5]
Soon the young girl's talent achieved nation-wide fame and success. She began acting for the royal court of the Shah at the age of four and was warmly welcomed by the Queen, Soraya. Googoosh's career as a star in Iranian movies started when she was seven.[6] She captured the hearts of audiences and became one of Iran's most recognized and beloved child movie stars in the late 1950s and 1960s.
From early on she had a great talent for imitation. Early footage of her as a child shows her dancing in the style of the luti with the signature tilted hat and a fake moustache to boot! She also preformed quite convincing imitations of Cossack, Indian, Spanish and Iranian tribal dancers. This early career in doing imitations helped her greatly when she became a full-fledged adult star and perfected the art of taking what is Western or foreign and making it her own. [7]
In her late teens she married to Mahmoud Ghorbani. He was a promoter and worked with some of the top clubs and cabarets in Tehran. Mr Ghorbani had been working as a promoter with well know artists for some time. He knew the business well and what's more he knew where the business was going. It was during her marriage to Mr Ghorbani that Googoosh's career shot to its summit. With the combination of her looks and style and his business savvy and connections there was no doubt that they would be a winning team. However the extent of her fame and popularity could not have been predicted. [5]
Already by the late 1960s, Googoosh's natural singing ability was inspiring modern Iranian music composers as a new style of Pop music emerged. The result of this collaboration was a unique blend of contemporary Persian poems and melodies with Jazz, Blues, Rock, Disco, Latin, and other Pop beats. With the help of legendary composers Varoojan, Hassan Shamaizadeh, and Farid Zoland, Googoosh's songs became instant hits and she became one of the biggest 1970s Iranian pop culture icons, touching young and old alike.
Without doubt, the most popular pre-Revolutionary artist was the female singer Googoosh.[8][9] At the age of 20, Googoosh took part in various international music festivals and won the first prize and golden record for her French numbers, "Retour de la vie" and "J'entends crier Je t'aime", at the Cannes Festival in 1971. Her recording of twelve songs in Italian and Spanish for the Sanremo Music Festival in 1973 became an overnight success.[10] She also won first prize at the Carthage Music Festival in 1972 and was honored with the first medal of arts of Tunisia in the same year. Her Spanish song titled "Desde hace tiempo" was an immediate hit in South America in 1973. Although she repeatedly and enthusiastically sang in other languages, her big hits were all in a modern, simple but poetic Farsi that bestowed a certain classiness to the female desire that she expressed. The orchestrated, sythensized Western-style music and the modern poetry (sher-e-no) along with her gestures, which were at once bold and restrained, provided a new language within which female sexuality and desire could be expressed without fear of sinking into vulgarity. [7] Her songs were romantic, not political, and while they drew on Western styles, they held onto both the fervor of Persian love poetry and the sliding, quivering, impassioned phrasing of traditional Persian music.[11] In 2002, Googoosh had 40 songs nominated in the World’s Favourite songs poll by BBC World Service and her song Gharib-e-Ashena was selected as the most popular song in the Middle East.[12]
For the reasons of her popularity, it has been argued that, the 60s was a changing time and many Iranian youth had turned to Western music which had infiltrated into the Iranian culture. Tastes were changing and classical traditional music was no longer enough, no matter how good it was. In Googoosh, the young, hippy generation of Iranians, found the pop culture that they were looking for. In many aspects she bridged the gap between Iranian music and Western pop.[5] Tabloid gossip and rumors came with the fame, as well. But it all came to an abrupt end with the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
In 70th, Googoosh was known for her flamboyant outfits, and fashion sense. She wowed her pop culture fans in Iran and abroad with her trademark hairdos and hip-elegant style. Iranian women changed hairdos with Googoosh and she was always one step ahead of them with a new look.[4] Young girls copied her every move, her dress sense and hair styles. At parties they would dance her moves, they'd go to dress makers and have her outfits made, and simply walk into a hair salon and say they wanted their hair cut like Googoosh, and the stylist would know what they meant.[5] Googoosh set the fashion trends, sporting a miniskirt (mini-jupe) and short haircut (known as the Googooshy)[6] as obvious signs of western sophistication, leaving behind a trail of fads. Googoosh's body also represented a new ideal for women in Iran. Svelte, with fewer curves than most Iranian women, her figure was considered more chic because it fit better in French designer clothes. But it also allowed for a mix of Persian and Western style dancing on stage that, while daring and free moving, avoided being erotic. Her nose, too, was small-like that of a farangi (foreigner), the highest aesthetic compliment one can still give an Iranian woman. So even her physique was considered modern and Western, terms that were inter-changeable during those heady years that witnessed a rise in oil revenue equal to what some regarded as the growing permissiveness in society.[7]
After the Revolution a number of cultural restrictions were introduced; women were no longer allowed to sing in public, and pop music was banned. Although most Iranian performers chose to leave the country, Googoosh, who was visiting the United States at the time of the revolution, returned home. She was jailed briefly and thereafter led a reclusive life.[6] She lived alone in Tehran, and played her songs at her piano. She later said she decided to stay in Iran after the revolution out of love her for her homeland, giving up the chance to continue to perform abroad.[13] This decades-long professional silence only added to her fame across many Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries, especially in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Turkey and Azerbaijan. Azerbaijanis especially appreciate Googoosh's song Ayrılıq (Separation), the lyrics of which are in Azeri.[3]She sings in twelve different languages, although she speaks Persian, English, Azeri, and a little Armenian. She is one of the most famous Iranian female pop singers, often called the "Queen of Persian Pop", "Persian Diva", "Mermaid of Iran", and "Iran's Daughter".
In 2000, a feature-length documentary called "Googoosh: Iran's Daughter" was released in the United States (and all over the world) which chronicled the singer's life and her icon-status while detailing the socio-political turmoil that led to the 1979 Revolution in Iran. Made by Iranian-American filmmaker Farhad Zamani, the documentary began production in 1998 and was made at a time when Googoosh was still forbidden to perform or grant interviews. The tagline of the movie is "Her silence made her the voice of a nation".
In 2000, as this film was being released, the more-moderate government, headed by President Mohammad Khatami, granted her permission to leave.[1] Googoosh returned to the world stage after two decades and began a North American tour in Toronto on 2000-07-29, in front of 12,000-strong crowd, mainly made up of emigre Iranians.[13] Googoosh started with "in the name of Iran and Iranians" and then asked the audience for a minute of silence in the memory of Ahmad Shamlou (Iranian poet who died afew days before the concert). She sang most of her all time favorites; songs most Iranians have many memories with: Talagh, Hamzad, Pishkesh, Mano Gonjishkaye Khuneh, Mordab, Jadeh ,Gharib-e Ashena and Ayrilıq.[14] Her North American tour, attracted 10 to 12 thousand people per performance. The tickets ranged from 35 to 250 dollars. Most concerts were sold out at the highest priced tickets first. [7]
In 2001-03-21 during Norouz holiday Googoosh performed in Dubai. This concert was considered a homecoming for her since thousands of Iranians crossed the Persian Gulf to hear her.[15] Her concert in New York City in 2006-10-21 was attended by the former Empress Farah of Iran, her daughter Farahnaz Pahlavi, and her granddaughter Iman, who later had a meeting with the singer.[16]
Googoosh's first album released after her return was Zartosht (Zoroaster); she has had two more record-breaking albums since then, including QQBangBang and Last News, and her new album, recorded with a philharmonic orchestra, titled Manifest, was released in September 2005.
She has more than 250 Persian and 55 international songs, including two in Azerbaijani such as "Ayrılıq", in her widely popular repertoire. Over the years many artists have covered Googoosh's songs.
Googoosh has been married four times. Her first husband was Mahmoud Ghorbani the brother of the owner of the Miami cabaret in Tehran and an influential person in Iranian showbiz. They were married in 1968 when Googoosh was 17 and their marriage lasted for six years, having a son together, Kambiz, who is a singer in Los Angeles.
In 1975 Googoosh married actor Behrouz Vossoughi . They had starred in four movies together before their marriage (Panjereh/Window, Mammal Emrikâyi/The American Mamal, and Hamsafar/Fellow Traveler) and their next film, Mah-e Asal/Honeymoon, which was released right after their marriage. Googoosh separated from Behrouz Vossoughi after 14 months.
Shortly after the Iranian revolution, Googoosh was married to Homayoun Mestaghi whom she had been living with (the Islamic Republic, in fact, imprisoned Googoosh for a few months based on the trumped-up charge that she was living with a man that was not her husband; therefore, her release culminated in this marriage). She divorced Mestaghi eight years later. He died from cancer a few years later.
She was then alone until the early 1990s when she met director Masoud Kimiai, who is now her husband.[6]
Studio Albums