Lebanese crooner is now an angry militant By Ben Hubbard His success was a dream come true for this tough port city on the Mediterranean coast: a poor kid whose honeyed voice and ballads of love and heartbreak rocketed him to wealth and fame far from the gun-ridden neighborhood where he grew up. Fadel Shaker became a superstar, hailed as “the king of romance,” his songs wooing masses throughout the Arab world. He bought a vast, three-story villa with a swimming pool overlooking the city, cars, a private orchard and a beachfront restaurant where he performed at parties. Then last year, in a move that has baffled fans and friends alike, he renounced popular music as forbidden by Islam, grew a scruffy beard and took up with a hard-line sheik. Last month during a deadly turf battle with the Lebanese army in a Sidon suburb, he denounced his enemies as dogs and pigs and boasted that his group had killed two men. He has not been seen in public since, and is believed to be in hiding from the authorities in the refugee camp near where he grew up....... Underneath a curved staircase sits a baby grand piano, strangely untouched by the flames. ...READ MORE GO TO PAGE 11
Posted on: Sat, 03 Aug 2013 16:53:48 +0000
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