Amr Diab (, ; born on 11 October 1961) is an Egyptian singer, composer and actor. He has established himself as a globally acclaimed recording artist and author. He is a Guinness World Record holder, the best selling Middle Eastern artist, a seven-times winner of World Music Awards and five-times winner of Platinum Records. Early life Diab was born as Amr Abdel Basset Abdel Azeez Diab (Arabic: عمرو عبد الباسط عبد العزيز دياب) on 11 October 1961 in Port Said to a middle-class Muslim family from the Egyptian countryside of Menia Elamh, in Sharqia Governorate, Egypt. Diab graduated with a bachelor's degree in music from the Cairo Academy of Arts in 1986. Music career Diab released his first album entitled in 1983. Diab's second album, (1984), was the first of a series of records he released with Delta Sound; including (1986), (1987), and (1988), with the title track becoming one of the top 10 songs in the world at the time. His later releases include (1989), (1990), (1991), (1992), (1993), (1994), and (1995). By 1992, he became the first Egyptian and Middle Eastern artist to start making high-tech music videos. In 1996, Diab released his first album with Alam El Phan entitled , and he won the World Music Award for the first time, which proved an international success and gained Diab recognition beyond the Arabic-speaking world. Diab recorded four more albums with Alam El Phan, including (1999). Diab also collaborated with Khaled (on the song "") and with Angela Dimitriou (on the song "Bahebak Aktar"). According to research by Michael Frishkopf, he has created a style in the song "", termed as "Mediterranean music", a blend of Western and Egyptian rhythms. In the summer of 2004, Diab, having left Alam El Phan, released his first album with Rotana Records, , which he followed up with the hugely successful (2005), and (2007). was released for sale on the internet on 27 June 2009; however, the album was leaked online and was downloaded illegally amid complaints of slow download speed on the official site. Diab's fans initiated a massive boycott of the sites with the illegal copies. On 18 October 2009, Diab won four 2009 African Music Awards in the categories of best artist, album, vocalist and song for ""; Diab had been nominated by the Big Apple Music Awards. In February 2011, Diab released his hit single ("Egypt spoke"), followed