Title: Ishtar&Nancy Ajram/نانسي عجرم‎
Description: Slideshow with pics of both stars Ishtar or Eti Zach was born on 10 November 1968 in Kiryat Atta, near Haifa. She was born to Egyptian-Jewish and Moroccan-Jewish parents, both of Sephardic heritage. Ishtar began performing in clubs at age 15. Though she was born Eti Zach, she chose the name 'Ishtar', a Mesopotamian Goddess, because her grandmother called her Ester, which "with her Arabic accent it sounded like Ishtar", she said. It was around this time a friend asked her to join them in France. She soon fell in love with the country and decided to make it her home. Once she moved to France, Ishtar began working as a back up vocalist for several flamenco type acts. It was here she was discovered by Charles Ibgui, who enamored with her voice, introduced her to Los Ni?os de Sara. She joined the group as a lead vocalist and together they performed under the name Alabina. Alabina soon became a world wide success charting in the top 10 and top 40 several times in the US alone. Alabina had found success mixing Flamenco, Arabic, Pop, and Dance sounds. Los Ni?os de Sara usually sang in Spanish while Ishtar would sing in Spanish, Arabic, French, Hebrew, or a mix of the languages ? several songs were sung in Spanish and Arabic. Nancy Ajram was born to an Orthodox Christian Lebanese family. Her sister Nadine (born 1984), is an actress and her brother Nabil Ajram (born 1985) is a singer. At the age of twelve she participated in a TV program called Noujoum Al Mostakbal, and won a golden medal/Tarab category. Afterwards, Nancy disappeared from the public eye and started studying vocal and music theory with music teachers in Lebanon. Although she was less than 18 years old, the syndicate of professional artists in Lebanon accepted her as a member because they found her to be an exceptional talent and deserving to be qualified as a professional artist. Nancy launched her first album Mihtagalak in 1998. In 2001 she launched her second album Sheel Oyoonak Anni. Both albums disappeared quickly from the charts and the lead singles were her biggest failure to-date. She was named as the best Arabic singer by the magazine Zahrat el Khalij for both 2003 and 2004. She was also dubbed by the Arabic version of Newsweek as one of the most influential personalities of the Arab world in 2005. She has sold over twelve million records in the Arab world making her one of the richest Lebanese singers. Her personal wealth, mostly earned from her high album sales and commercials, has exceeded $16 million. She has sold over four million albums in Lebanon and ranks as the third best-selling female artist in Lebanese music history. In 2007, Nancy Ajram released a statement that she is not planning to marry at the moment and is currently focusing on her career.