Shams Bandar Naif Al-Aslami (, born 28 April 1980), known simply as Shams (), is an

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

singer of

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

and actress. She dropped her Arab citizenship denouncing her

and

Gulf A gulf is a large inlet from an ocean or their seas into a landmass, larger and typically (though not always) with a narrower opening than a bay (geography), bay. The term was used traditionally for large, highly indented navigable bodies of s ...

culture and origins.

Personal life

She was born in Hafr-Al-Batin Governorate, east of the Kingdom of

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

, to a

Saudi Saudi or Saudi Arabian may refer to: * Saudi Arabia * Saudis, people from Saudi Arabia * Saudi culture, the culture of Saudi Arabia * House of Saud, the ruling family of Saudi Arabia See also *Saud (disambiguation) The House of Saud The H ...

father and a Kuwaiti mother. Her father died when she was two years old. Her mother then married a Kuwaiti man who raised her. She lived with her mother and husband in Kuwait. She obtained a degree from the Higher Institute of Musical Arts in Kuwait. She has Saudi,

Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Kitts and Nevis, officially the Federation of Saint Christopher (St Kitts) and Nevis, is an island country consisting of the two islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, both located in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands chain of the Less ...

, Mexican, possibly British citizenship, and is an avid supporter of

dual nationality Multiple citizenship (or multiple nationality) is a person's legal status in which a person is at the same time recognized by more than one country under its nationality and citizenship law as a national or citizen of that country. There is no ...

laws. She is often known for her

simplicity Simplicity is the state or quality of being wikt:simple, simple. Something easy to understand or explain seems simple, in contrast to something complicated. Alternatively, as Herbert A. Simon suggests, something is simple or Complexity, complex ...

when it comes to her lifestyle, in which she doesn't brag about

wealth Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an ...

jewellery Jewellery (or jewelry in American English) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment such as brooches, ring (jewellery), rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the ...

or private airplanes, when asked about whether she wants to "get on the fashion of private airplanes like other artists" she said: According to her, a lot of her songs are inspired by occasions and events she went through in her life.

Controversies

There has always been controversy surrounding her actual origins, while she claims a paternal

Arab Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Syr ...

ancestry, former older interviews refer to her as "''Shams Al- Bahbahani''". This is a common theme in the

Arab States of the Persian Gulf The Arab states of the Persian Gulf, also known as the Gulf Arab states (), refers to a group of Arab states bordering the Persian Gulf. There are seven member states of the Arab League in the region: Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Saudi ...

region, where many families of Iranian/Persian ancestries (such as the

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

majority Larestanis) have attempted try to hide or change their roots and/or names, but this also applies to royal families in the Persian Gulf as well. In 2019, she launched a sharp attack on everyone who criticized her for wearing shorts, and according to the website (A), she confirmed that she was wearing leggings underneath in the clip "Hob Naqis" (Incomplete Love), with lyrics by the Saudi poet Al-Wisam, and music composed by the Iraqi musician Basil Al-Aziz, who also acted as the model alongside her. She added: "If anyone feels I’ve caused them emotional distress, they should simply not follow me and not upset themselves. There are many people who love to see me, and they resemble me. The art I present is directed to those who... resemble me." She said: "Modesty is a relative matter. Some believe that even a woman showing her eyes is offensive to their morals. Others see a woman without a

niqab A niqāb, niqab, or niqaab (; ), also known as a ruband () or rubandah (), is a long garment worn by some Muslim women in order to cover their entire body and face, excluding their eyes. It is an interpretation in Islam of the concept of ...

as 'immoral,' and some see wearing shorts as something completely normal." Shams emphasized: "I do not represent any country at all," adding, "I am Shams, coming from outer space, and I do not represent any country. I say this so that no one gets upset with me, especially since I am half

and half Kuwaiti. I don’t want anyone saying, 'You’re from the

, and you’re not allowed to do this or that.' No, sir, this art is mine; I represent myself, not anyone else."

Career

Early beginnings

Her singing career began with the formation of a popular band at the end of the 1990s, while her actual beginning was when she signed a contract with "Ranad Audio Company", which took over the release of her first album, entitled "Habib Al Ward" in 2001, and was supervised by the Saudi composer Ahmed Cheetah. She continued to present her songs in the Gulf dialect, and released her second album in 2002, and the artist chose the song "Seven Times" to shoot a video clip, and the name of the song is the same as the title of her new album. Shams collaborated again with the Saudi artist Khaled Abdel Rahman after collaborating with him on her first album, where the second song on the album was "Hala" from his words and composition.

Rise to fame

In 2007, she released two albums in two versions, the first in the Gulf dialect and the second in the Egyptian dialect, "Shams Khaleeji" and "Shams Masri", produced by the American Surprise Company, and she is the first Arab singer to sign a contract with an American production company. A large group of writers in the Gulf countries and Egypt took turns writing the lyrics for the two songs, as well as the melodies and distribution, containing 22 songs, 12 Egyptian songs and ten Gulf songs. This case is the first in the Arab world and the Gulf.In partnership with the Saudi Mohammed Abdo, she released a single titled "The Great Wall of Kuwait" in September 2007, and the music was filmed in the Surra area in Kuwait under the production of Al-Watan TV. Music Studio released her album Sabahak Khair in 2012. The album includes 17 songs in which Shams collaborated with several composers, including Michel Fadel and Nasser Al-Saleh. Shams repeated her collaboration with director Jamil Jamil Al-Maghazi, as he directed her song 24 Hours, which she filmed as a video clip, in order to promote the album. She entered the world of sports songs dedicated to football fans with her song “Nasrawi Lataklamni” after the popularity of the “Leader Latakalni” tag, which was launched by the fans of the Saudi Al-Nasr Club at the end of 2013 , where she released her song on March 23, 2014, and achieved a quarter of a million within a week. Her song Nasrawi Latakalni was broadcast on Saudi TV, becoming the first female singer to have her voice appear on Channel One after more than thirty years of suspension. Shams claimed in an interview on Al Arabiya in 2015 , that she had given up her Gulf citizenship and currently holds a British and French green card. Her first acting career was in 2018, when she participated in the comedy series ( Awad Aba A’Jed (series), which is broadcast by MBC channel in Ramadan, starring Asaad Al-Zahrani and Habib Al-Habib. As of January 2025, her

Iraqi Arabic Mesopotamian Arabic (), also known as Iraqi Arabic or the Iraqi dialect (), or just as Iraqi (), is a group of varieties of Arabic spoken in the Mesopotamian basin of Iraq, as well as in Syria, southeastern Turkey, Iran, Kuwait and Iraqi diaspor ...

song "Ateg Esba'a" () is the most viewed song on YouTube with over 66 Millions.

Works

Albums

Music videos

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shams 21st-century Saudi Arabian women singers Living people Rotana Records artists 1980 births Kuwaiti women singers Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Naturalized citizens of France Saudi Arabian film actresses Saudi Arabian television actresses Kuwaiti film actresses Kuwaiti television actresses Arabic-language singers of Saudi Arabia Arabic-language singers of Kuwait Berber-language singers of Saudi Arabia Berber-language singers of Kuwait