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Khaled

It’s a statement that’s beyond doubt or question. With his unforgettable voice and huge smile, Khaled is raï. He helped transform the raw music in his native Algeria, and then went on to make it a part of the global music scene. And with 10 diamond, platinum, and gold albums, as well as the highest-selling Arab album in history (123 Soleils), he’s the star all other raï singers aspire to be.

Khaled was born in 1960 in Oran, Algeria, the home of raï, and he was singing on the streets of the city with his first group, the Five Stars, by the time he was 10. At 14 he’d graduated to the more lucrative circuit of wedding and circumcision ceremonies (the only places, outside nightclubs, where raï was acceptable). While singing at a wedding, he was heard by a producer who took the teenager into a studio to record his first song, “Trigue Lycée.” Full of youthful exuberance about skipping classes...

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