Googoosh by Googoosh

Googoosh

A Sinful Voice

Googoosh, Tara Dehlavi

Gallery Books · Print & ebook · December 2, 2025

Before there was Madonna or Beyoncé, there was Googoosh.

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Genres
Musicians' Lives, Arab & Middle Eastern Lives, Iranian History
Published
Gallery Books, December 2, 2025

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About this book

Before there was Madonna or Beyoncé, there was Googoosh. For the first time, one of the biggest pop stars of the 20th century tells her remarkable story: her rise to fame in pre-revolution Iran, her arrest and imprisonment, her twenty-year exile, and finally, her triumphant return to the global stage. “My story is not only my story. It’s about our past, my country, how it was, what it became, what happened to the people, to artists.”

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What would happen to a country’s biggest pop star if religious extremists took control? In the wake of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, singer Googoosh found out. She was ordered by her government to never sing again, and for twenty years, she didn’t...until she did. Now, in this lyrical and moving memoir, pop superstar Googoosh unveils her unforgettable journey. From her difficult upbringing in Iran’s tumultuous 1950s and ’60s to her stardom in the ’70s, she reveals what it was like to reach the peak of her career just as the 1979 Islamic Revolution swept the country. Seemingly overnight, she went from being on magazine covers, at film premieres and fashion shows, and constantly on the radio, to targeted by religious clerics. What followed is a harrowing tale of oppression, intimidation, and exile. After more than twenty years—forbidden to sing or speak out—she found her voice at the turn of the millennium, once again on the international stage. Now, inspired by the brave women of Iran on the front lines fighting for their freedoms, Googoosh finally tells her full story, and with it, the story of a country once again on the brink.

Where it sits

Arab & Middle Eastern Lives55%
Musicians' Lives55%
Iranian History40%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Lives of the Rich & Famous
  • Personal Memoirs
  • Iranian History
Authors
Googoosh, Tara Dehlavi
Publisher
Gallery Books
Published
December 2, 2025
Format
Print & ebook
Reading lane
Lives of the Rich & Famous