- Album list
- Singer Intro
Maher Zain (Arabic: ماهر زين ; born 16 July 1981) is a Swedish R&B singer, songwriter and music producer of Lebanese origin. He released his debut album Thank You Allah, an internationally successful album produced by Awakening Records, in 2009. He released his follow-up album Forgive Me in April 2012 under the same production company.
Beginnings
Maher Zain's Lebanese family emigrated to Sweden when he was eight. He completed his schooling there, gaining a bachelor's degree in Aeronautical Engineering. After university, he entered the music industry in Sweden, and in 2005 linked up with the Moroccan-born Swedish producer RedOne. When RedOne moved to New York in 2006, Zain soon followed to continue his music industry career in the United States, producing for artists such as Kat DeLuna.
On returning home to Sweden, he became engaged once more with his Islamic faith and decided to move away from a career as a music producer to become a singer/songwriter of contemporary R&B music with a strong Muslim religious influence.
Breakthrough success
In January 2009, Maher Zain began working on an album with Awakening Records. His debut album, Thank You Allah, with 13 songs and two bonus tracks, was released on 1 November 2009 with percussion versions and French versions of some tracks released shortly afterwards.
Zain and Awakening Records successfully used social media such as Facebook, YouTube and iTunes to promote tracks from the album. In early 2010 his music very quickly gathered a huge online following in Arabic-speaking and Islamic countries as well as among young Muslims in western countries. By the end of 2010, he was the most Googled celebrity in Malaysia for that year. Malaysia and Indonesia have been the countries where he has had the most commercial success. The album Thank You Allah has been certified multiple platinum by Warner Music Malaysia and Sony Music Indonesia. It became the highest selling album of 2010 in Malaysia.
Zain sings mainly in English but has released some of his most popular songs in other languages. The song 'Insha Allah', for example, is now available in English, French, Arabic, Turkish, Malay and Indonesian versions. Another song, 'Allahi Allah Kiya Karo' ('Continuously Saying Allah'), is sung in Urdu and features the Pakistan born Canadian singer Irfan Makki. Zain has performed concerts around the world, including in the UK, the United States, Malaysia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. He has fan clubs in several countries including Malaysia, Egypt, and Morocco. He took part in the judging committee of the Awakening Talent Contest to choose Awakening Records' new star in 2013.
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