Sepideh (singer)

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Sepideh سپیده افشار
Background information
Birth name	Sepideh Afshar
Born	(1976-01-14) 14 January 1976 (age 48) Tehran, Iran
Genres	Persian Pop, Dance Music, International Music
Occupation	Singer
Instrument	Vocals
Years active	1998–present
Labels	Caltex Records (1998–2007), Avang Music (2008–present)
Website	sepidehmusic.com

Sepideh (Persian: سپیده; born 14 January 1976) is an Iranian-born singer. She has recorded and toured around the world multiple times, performing songs in multiple languages including Persian, English, Armenian, Arabic, Kurdish and Turkish.^[1]

Sepideh was born in Tehran, Iran and is of Kurdish descent on her father's side. She moved with her family to the Washington D.C. area in the late 1980s. She started singing in a band called Setareh while still in high school. After graduating, she joined another band called Mask. The band did shows all along the east coast of the United States for several years before Sepideh moved to Los Angeles, California in 1997 to pursue a career in music full time.^[2] She still lives in Los Angeles area with her husband.^[3]

After moving to Los Angeles in 1997, Sepideh got her break upon meeting the Persian music industry producer Shahbal Shabpareh. Sepideh started working with Shahbal in 1998 when he asked her to join as lead singer of the all-female Persian singing group Silhouettt (aka Silhouettte).^[4] Soon after, in 1999, the album "Beauty and the Beat" was released with Sepideh having recorded all vocals for the album. Silhouettt opened that year for Shahbal's band Black Cats, performing concerts around the world in support of the album. A few years later, in 2004, Sepideh released her first solo album entitled "Girl in the Mirror" with music producer Ramin Zamani. She followed that album in 2007 with her second solo album "No Fear," produced by Schubert Avakian. The book Soundtrack of the Revolution mentions that Sepideh is a "Shakira-esque pop singer".^[5] Although she has released no full albums since 2007, Sepideh has released multiple singles since then.

After the death of the Persian female music icon Mahasti in 2007, Sepideh was one of only four Persian female singers asked by the Tapesh TV Network to record and perform a tribute song in Mahasti's memory.^[6][7] The other singers involved in the project were Leila Forouhar, Helen, and Hengameh.

In 2016, Sepideh gave a live performance as the musical guest star for the finale of the Manoto TV talent show Stage.^[8]

Sepideh has developed a large online social media presence where she has accumulated millions of followers on various platforms like Facebook,^[9] Instagram,^[10] Twitter, and Telegram. In addition, her music and videos have garnered over 100 million listens and views on various streaming platforms like YouTube,^{[11][12][13][14]} iTunes,^[15] Spotify,^[16] Radio Javan,^[17] Bia2.com,^[18] and others.

Albums

Singles

• 2017 – Best Iranian Female Act, daf BAMA Music Awards^[22]
• 2016 – Best Iranian Female Act, daf BAMA Music Awards (Nominated)
• 2009 – Best Middle Eastern Song, The JPF Awards (Nominated)^[23]

• Music of Iran

• Official website
• Persian Wikipedia page: https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/سپیده_افشار
• Kodoom.com – Collection of news articles and events relating to Sepideh (mainly in Farsi language): https://iranians.kodoom.com/en/sepideh/
• "Sepideh on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
• 2014 Appearance on Farsi1 talk show Chand Shanbeh
• Sepideh performing at the 2017 International FeminEast concert: https://www.riksteatern.se/forestallningar/femineast-2017/
• Interviewed as part of BBC TV Persian special
• 2015 Appearance on Farsi1 talk show Chand Shanbeh
• Interview with Behzad before going live on stage
• One-on-One interview with Tapesh TV