Biography

Vigen or Viguen, born Vigen Derderian   (November 23, 1929 – October 26, 2003), known as “King of Iranian pop” and the “Sultan of Jazz”, was an immensely popular Iranian pop music singer and actor, well known throughout the Near East. Vigen sang both in Persian and Armenian.

Vigen was an Iranian of Armenian ethnicity and during the golden age of Persian pop (early 1970s) until the 1979 Islamic Revolution, many Iranian performers and celebrities—among them Delkash, Pouran, and Elaheh—yearned to be associated with him.

Vigen’s innovative and upbeat style of music had a great influence on paving the way for a new genre of Iranian music, influenced by Western European and Latin American styles. His musical and performing talents soon captured the attention of many prominent Iranian lyricists and composers such as Parveez Vakili and Kareem Fakkour, and together they created some of Iran’s most memorable songs.

Early life

Vigen was born into a relatively affluent Armenian family of eight children in the western Iranian city of Hamadan. His father died due to complications to pneumonia when Vigen was only eight years old.He was raised by his older brother, Zaven and his mother after moving away from the family property because of a disagreement with her father. Karo Derderian, Vigen’s older brother was a well known Iranian poet and wrote the lyrics for Vigen’s signature song, “Lala’ee” (Lullaby). During World War II, the family moved to the northern city of Tabriz where local Azerbaijani nationalists declared the area a separatist republic, with the help of the occupying Soviet forces.This is where Vigen bought his first guitar from a Russian soldier and discovered his affinity for American, Italian and Spanish music and adopted many of those melodies for his songs with Persian lyrics that became some of Iran’s most popular music to date.

Personal life

His first wife was named Olga and they had five children together. The four daughters, including actress Aylin Vigen (also known as Eileen Vigen or Ailen Vigen), Aylin’s fraternal twin sister, singer Jaklin Munns (also known as Jaklin Vigen, Jacqueline Vigen), Katrin Vigen, Evelyn Vigen, and one son named Edwin Derderian.His second wife is Karen Derderian (b. Jan 27, 1951 in Mississippi, neé Karen Holston) and he had a step-daughter Robin Navonne Brakefield.