Nagat El-Sagheera

Nagat also divorced from her second husband, Egyptian film director Houssam El-Din Mustafa (1926–2000), shortly afterwards and has remained single to date.

Media reports suggest that she made a decision to devote her life to raising her only child, Waleed, from her first marriage, and to her work.

His son, Ezz Eddin Hosni (1927–2013) was a noted composer and taught Nagat music and singing.

Another brother, son Sami Hosni became a Cello player, jewellery designer and calligrapher.

Yet another brother, Farooq, was a painter and his daughter, Samira, also became an actress.

Nagat El-Sagheera (نجاة الصغيرة; born Nagah Hosni Elbaba on 11 August 1938; alternative spelling: El Saghirah) is an Egyptian singer and actress.

Nagat El Sagheera was born in Cairo, Egypt on 11 August 1938 as the daughter of a Kurdish -Egyptian prominent Arabic calligrapher, Mohammad Hosni, who was from Damascus.

and an Egyptian mother.

Her father married twice.

She grew up in a household that was frequented by leading artists and calligraphers.

Nagat was singing at family gatherings from the age of five.

Nagat's works are a part of Egyptian music from the "golden age" of the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s.

She still inspires other Arab artists.

Along with Umm Kulthum, she was one of a small group of female singers who formed the Egyptian “golden age” of music in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s.

She was known as “al-Saghira, the small” or “al-Saghira, the young”.

She gained many fans after releasing the song, Irja Ilyya (Return to Me), based on a poem by Nizar Qabbani whose sister had committed suicide rather than enter into an arranged marriage.

The song's feminist lyrics struck a chord with fans.

The Egyptian actress Soad Hosni (1943–2001) was Nagat's half-sister.

Soad died in London under controversial circumstances.

Her funeral was attended by some 10,000 people.

She made her first film, Hadiya (released in 1947) at the age of eight.

She is reported to have performed songs by the diva, Umm Kulthum, from the age of 7 years.

Her first marriage was at young age, in 1955, when she was 16 (or 17) years old to an Egyptian man called Kamal Mansi who was a friend of her brother.

In a recorded interview, in the mid-1960s for Egyptian TV with the presenter Ms Salwa Hegzi, Nagat stated that she had, at that time, eight brothers and sisters.

Lately, some media outlets are indicating double that number; the most frequently mentioned is seventeen brothers and sisters.

The discrepancy between eight and seventeen siblings can be readily explained by the nature of an extended family.

Nagat is one of eight siblings (four boys: Ezz Eddin, Nabil, Farooq and Sami; and four girls: Khadiga, Samira, Nagat herself and Afaf) from her father's first marriage; as well as three half-sisters from her father's second marriage to Gawhara (Kawther, Soad, Sabah).

Following Gawhara's divorce from Hosni and remarriage to Abdel Monem Hafez, another six children were born (three boys: Jaheer, Jaser and Jalaa; and three girls: Gehan, Janjah and Jeely).

The grand total of 17 is made up of eight full siblings; three half-sisters and six step-siblings.

In the same interview, Nagat confirmed that she was brought up in a home where most of her brothers and sisters were artists.

Her father's household was known as "the home of the Artists".

Leading artists from across the Arab world regularly visited Hosni's home in Khan el-Khalili, Cairo.

He nurtured his children's talents and encouraged them to pursue careers in the performing and visual arts.

Many of his children became artists in their own rights.

She was divorced around 1960 and remarried in 1967.

During the 1970s, Nagat added original lines to the song during 1970s’ performances, demonstrating her capacity for "inspired interpretation".

She retired from filming in 1976 and from singing in 2002.

Nagat began her career at the age of five and retired 59 years later.

Hosni performed in more than 80 films the last of which was released in 1991, and had five marriages and no children.

Nagat had two marriages.