Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti (Italian: [joˈlanda kriˈstiːna dʒiʎˈʎɔtti]; 17 January 1933 – 3 May 1987), professionally known as Dalida (Arabic: داليدا‎), was a French singer and actress, born in Egypt to Italian parents. She won the Miss Egypt beauty contest in 1954 and began a 31-year singing career in 1956, selling 170 million albums and singles worldwide. She died by suicide in 1987. 　　Dalida was born Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti in Cairo, Kingdom of Egypt, on 17 January 1933. Her father Pietro Gigliotti (1904–1945) and mother Filomena Giuseppina (née D’Alba, 1904–1971) were born in Serrastretta, Calabria in Italy. Pietro studied music in school and played violin in taverns; Giuseppina was a seamstres 　　Unable to make a living in their hometown, the young couple moved to the Shubra district of Cairo the year they were married, where, between the births of Iolanda's older brother Orlando (1928–1992) and younger brother Bruno (1936), the Gigliotti family became well established in the community. In addition to earnings from Giuseppina's work, their social status benefited when Pietro became primo violino at Cairo's Khedivial Opera House, and the family bought a two-storey house 　　At 10 months old, Iolanda caught an eye infection and had to wear bandages for 40 days. Her father would play lullabies on the violin to soothe her. She underwent eye operations between the ages of three and five. Having to wear glasses throughout elementary school, for which she was bullied, she later recalled: "I was [sic] enough of it, I would rather see the world in a blur than wear glasses, so I threw them through the window." Iolanda attended the Scuola Tecnica Commerciale Maria Ausiliatrice, an Italian Catholic school located in northern Shubra.