Passion or Profession: Singer

Period: 1904–1975

With her melancholy songs and stunning vocal agility, Umm Kulthum captured the love and admiration of the Arab world. A great proponent of the Arab traditional song, her songs demonstrate the influence of her Arab heritage as well as the influence of the poet Ahmed Ramy (of her 286 songs, 132 were his poems). When Kulthum died, more than three million people followed her funeral casket through the streets of Cairo.