Talal bin Abdul-Sheikh bin Ahmed bin Jaafar Al-Jabri, known professionally as Talal Maddah, was a Saudi Arabian singer, musician, and composer. Born on August 5, 1940, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Maddah began performing in school concerts in Taif and learned the oud from a classmate, Abdul Rahman Khundaneh. Maddah's career breakthrough came in the mid-1950s with the recording of the song “Wardak Ya Zarea Al Ward”, which achieved daily radio play. Throughout a 50-year career, Maddah composed more than 1,000 songs and recorded about 66 official albums alongside 40 other releases, which included the hit single “Muqadir” (1976). Maddah collaborated with composers such as Ibrahim Raafat and Gamal Salama, and toured extensively across the Middle East and North Africa. On August 11, 2000, Maddah died of a heart attack onstage at the Al Meftaha Stage in Abha, Saudi Arabia. Maddah was honored in 1984 by King Fahd with the Order of Merit of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.
