Shusha Guppy
| Shushā Guppy | |
|---|---|
Shushā Guppy
|
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Shamsi Assār |
| Also known as | Shusha |
| Born |
24 December 1935 Tehran, Iran |
| Died | 21 March 2008 (aged 72) London, England |
| Genres |
Persian traditional music Chanson Singer-songwriter |
| Occupation(s) |
Singer Writer |
| Years active | 1971–2008 |
Shushā (Shamsi) Guppy (Persian: شوشا (شمسی) گوپی), née Shamsi Assār (شمسی عصار)(D, 24 December 1935 in Tehran, Iran – 21 March 2008 in London, United Kingdom), was a writer, editor and, under the name of "Shusha", a singer of Persian and Western folk songs. She had lived in London since the early 1960s.
Her father, Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammad-Kāzem Assār (آيت الله العظمي سيد محمد کاظم عصار), was a distinguished Shia theologian and Professor of Philosophy at University of Tehran. At age 17 Shusha was sent to Paris, where she studied Oriental languages and philosophy, and also trained as an opera singer. In Paris she encountered artists, writers and poets such as Louis Aragon, Jose Bergamin, Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. She was encouraged by Jacques Prévert to record an album of Persian folk songs.
She married the writer and explorer Nicholas Guppy in 1961. They had two sons, Darius and Constantine Guppy, and were divorced in 1976. At the time of her marriage she moved to London, where she became fluent in English; she was already fluent in Persian and French. Guppy wrote articles for major publications in both Britain and America. She also began singing and acting professionally.
Guppy's first British release, in 1971, was an album of traditional Persian music, complementing her first album released in France fourteen years earlier. By now, influenced by the Folk Revival, she was writing and singing some of her own songs, as well as covering the works of many contemporary singer-songwriters. She gave successful concerts in Britain, America and continental Europe, and appeared on television and radio programmes. She gave concerts in the Netherlands and Belgium in 1975 with Lori Lieberman and .
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