Khaled

Khaled Hadj Ibrahim (خالد حاج إبرهيم, ; born 29 February 1960), better known by his mononym Khaled (خالد), is an Algerian raï singer, musician and songwriter.

He began recording in his early teens under the name Cheb Khaled (شاب خالد, Arabic for "Young" Khaled, with "Cheb" as a common title for male raï singers).

Khaled is one of the most important musicians in the history of Raï music in his native Algeria and is one the world's best-known Arab singers.

To date, Khaled has sold over 80.5 million albums (10 diamond, platinum, and gold) worldwide, making him one of the bestselling Arabic-language singers in history.

Among his most famous songs are "Aïcha", "Didi", "El Arbi", "Abdel Kader", "La Poupée qui fait non", "Wahran Wahran", "Bakhta", "C'est la vie", and "Alech Taadi".

He holds the Guinness World Record for best-selling artist of raï music.

Khaled

was born on 29 February 1960 in Oran's Eckmühl neighborhood, Algeria.

His rise to national fame was mainly due to the efforts of Lieutenant-Colonel Hosni Snoussi, director of the state-supported arts and culture Office Riadh el Feth, who took Khaled under his wing and invited him along with other rai stars to perform at the state-sponsored Festival de la Jeunesse pour la Fête Nationale in Algiers in July 1985.

In the same year, he was crowned king of rai in the first official festival of rai which was staged in Oran.

Hosni Snoussi and Martin Meissonnier, who met at the Festival, convinced France's Minister of Culture Jack Lang that the export of rai from Algeria to France was in the French government's interest and together they organized the first rai festival in France at Bobigny in 1986.

Cheb Khaled, who had been avoiding his mandatory military service, was able to perform at Bobigny only after Colonel Snoussi intervened with the Algerian military authorities to secure him a passport.

Shortly thereafter, Snoussi arranged for Cheb Khaled to record in France, with funding from the Office Riadh el Feth.

The album, Kutché, released in 1988, a collaboration between Khaled and the Algerian jazz musician Safy Boutella, expanded his reputation in France, where he soon settled.

In 1992, having dropped the "Cheb" from his performance name, he recorded Khaled, which was produced by Don Was.

The album's first single Didi, which was a major hit in Europe, the Arab World, and in South and East Asia, made him an international superstar.

One of the Pioneers of world music, Rai musician Khaled has gone beyond all geo-political boundaries to become one of the world's most popular performers, mixing traditional Algerian music with western rhythms and styles such as soul, rock and reggae to achieve his distinctive sound and voice unlike anyone ever.

Khaled has been celebrated not only for his music, but for his role as a builder of bridges between cultures.

selling more than 80 millions copies around the world makes him a nationwide celebrity and unofficial ambassador for the country's Arab minority.

Khaled's signature song, the 1993 hit "Didi", became extremely popular in the Arabic-speaking countries and also in several other continents, including Europe, where it entered top charts in France, Belgium and Spain, and in Asia, including India and Pakistan.

The song was also used in the Bollywood films Shreeman Aashiq, Airlift and Highway.

Khaled and producer Don Was appeared on The Tonight Show on 4 February 1993.

On 12 January 1995, Khaled married 27 year old Samira Diabi.

Together, they have four daughters and one son.

In 1997, his wife filed a complaint against him for domestic violence, before retracting the complaint.

In 1998, the biography Khaled: Derrière le sourire (French for "Khaled: Behind the Smile") was published, which recounted his life.

Khaled has an illegitimate son with whom he has no contact.

Before a court appearance in 2001, he denied being the father of the child, continuing to claim that he had been "deceived".

On the 7 May 2001, Khaled was sentenced by the Nanterre criminal court to a two-month suspended prison sentence for "family desertion".

Khaled returned to the United States of America in December 2004 for a special guest performance at the Grammy Jam 2004 in Los Angeles, California.

He joined a cast of celebrity artists honoring the great musical legends Earth, Wind & Fire, performing Brazilian Rhymes into Didi showing how their music crossed the world, fusing with his North African style.

—Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, 2008

His move to Luxembourg in 2008, where he's been residing ever since, has reportedly been motivated by these charges.

In 2012, Khaled's album C’est la vie sold more than one million copies in the European market, 1.8 million copies in the Middle East and North Africa, and over 4 million copies worldwide.

The album reached number 5 on SNEP, the official French Albums Chart.

He was awarded Moroccan citizenship in August 2013, which, according to him and his wife, he did not ask for but accepted because he felt he could not refuse.

On 3 April 2015, Khaled was convicted for plagiarism of Didi, from Angui ou Selmi, a musical composition recorded by Cheb Rabah (born Rabah Zerradine) in 1988.

But on 13 May 2016, Court of Cassation removed the charges against Khaled, when a 1982 audio tape with the song was shown.

This tape was recorded by Khaled and given to a producer located in Oran, 6 years before Cheb Rabah's record.

In the end, Rabah had to compensate Khaled for the fees during this case.