Maya Casabianca

Israeli-French singer born in 1945 in Casablanca, Morocco, under the name Margalit Azran, hence its nickname Casabianca. Emigrated to Israel with her aunt and uncle in 1948, while her parents went to Paris. Her aunt and uncle, it seems, couldn't adapt to life in Israel, so when she was 11 (1956) the family moved to Paris, and she was reunited with her parents. She was discovered by a neighbor who worked for the Philips recording company, and she was signed by Philips under the name Maya Casabianca and was a sensation in France by the late 50's. Her total record sales, according to the Haaretz article, were 38 million. Like Dalida, and like so many of France's pop stars of the era who were "Mediterranean," she sang in French and Spanish. But she certainly is not remembered today anywhere near as reverentially as is Dalida. In the 70's moved to Haifa in Israel, where she continued her career. It comes up from time to time in France. She carried on a love affair with [a1335859] during the last four years of his life (he died in 1974). Maya also wrote a book, published in 2001, about her career and her time with Farid, under the Hebrew title Ani Vehu ("He and I"), and it also appeared in Arabic, issued by the Arabic culture department of the Israeli Ministry of Science, Culture and Sport.