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Lebanese singer Sabah dies at 87

Lebanese singer and actress Sabah and Wafaa Suleiman (R), wife of Lebanon's President Michel Suleiman, attend "Sabah, the Musical" during the opening of Beiteddine Festival in Beiteddine village, Mount Lebanon, June 24, 2011. REUTERS/ Mohamed Azakir

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese singer Sabah, one of the leading Arab performers of her generation, has died at the age of 87, her family said on Wednesday.

Born Jeanette Feghali and known to her fans as the "singing bird", Sabah recorded at least 4,000 songs in her lifetime, experts on her career say.

In the mid-1970s, she became the second Arab singer after Egypt's Oum Kalthoum to perform at L'Olympia in Paris. She also performed at London's Royal Albert Hall and the Sydney Opera House.

Known affectionately across the Arab world as "Sabouha", a diminutive of Sabah, she began her singing and acting career in the 1940s in Egypt, the centre of Arab cinema and entertainment.

She acted in 83 movies that played to audiences across the Arabic-speaking world and in 27 Lebanese plays.

Sabah married formally seven times. Her husbands included a politician and some of the Arab world's famous actors and musicians.

(Reporting by Laila Bassam; Writing by Suleiman al-Khalidi; Editing by Larry King)