Latifa bint Alaya El Arfaoui (Arabic: لطيفة بنت عليه العرفاوي pronunciation: ɫɑˈt̪ˤiːfæ bɪnt ʕælɛi̯jæ (e)l.ʕɑrˤˈfɛːwi; born 14 February 1961), better known as Latifa (Arabic: لطيفة), is a Tunisian pop singer and former actress who resides in Egypt, and one of the most known and best-selling singers in the Arab world and the Middle East. She is known for her Tunisian and Egyptian Arabic genre. She sings with 3 different languages, Arabic, French and English.
She received the World Music Awards in 2004 for best selling Artist in the Middle East and she is the first Tunisian receiving this award in history.
Early life
Latifa Bint Alaya El Arfaoui was born in Manouba, Tunisia.
In 1983, shortly after her father died, Latifa and her family took a trip to Egypt to rest and mourn. While there, she met composer Baligh Hamdi, who advised her to move to Egypt to benefit her career. However Latifa wanted to concentrate on her education, and returned to Tunisia to finish her high school final exams. For financial reasons, she was unable to return to Egypt, so attended college in Tunisia, studying Dutch literature for a year and a half. Her family decided to pay for her to go to Egypt, so she quit college in Tunisia and joined the Arab Academy of Music in Egypt, where she completed her bachelor degree.
