Lydia Canaan, the first female rock star of the Middle East, is an internationally award-winning Lebanese-Swiss singer, songwriter, poet, a passionate humanitarian activist who frequently delivers speeches in support of human rights causes at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, and lends her singing and her speaking voice to charity and fundraisers. Canaan is the first and only artist from the Middle East listed and cataloged as a historical pioneering figure and an iconic music legend in the prestigious Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’s Library and Archives in the United States. She was praised by Billboard magazine as having a three-octave range and perfect pitch, dubbed by MTV Europe as “The Diva from the Middle East”, and called a “high profile celebrity” by ABC News. Canaan is the first Middle-Eastern artist to have her music videos (filmed in London) on MTV Europe, MTV Asia, MTV Russia, and MTV Arabia. Canaan’s London-based international release of the song “Beautiful Life” gained her critical acclaim from the British and American music press, and “Beautiful Life” was chosen by Nelson Mandela as the theme song for a charity event under his auspices in South Africa. As an artist with a purpose, Canaan has received numerous awards, among them the International Year of Volunteers Award for her humanitarianism from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Canaan’s song “Libnan” was chosen as the title song of the advertisement “Rediscover Lebanon”, produced and broadcast by CNN in 2004, and commissioned by the Lebanese Government to promote Lebanon as a tourist destination. In 2014, Canaan was awarded by the UK Songwriting Contest for her song “Never Set You Free”. In 2015, Canaan was listed and cataloged in the prestigious Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Library and Archives in the United States. In 2016, Canaan won the award for Outstanding Achievement from the American Global Music Awards (GMA). In 2017, Canaan was featured as a Rock legend in British journalist for Newsweek Orlando Crowcroft’s book “Rock in a Hard Place: Music and Mayhem in the Middle East”, about the dangers she faced and obstacles she overcame as a rock music pioneer in Lebanon rocking the establishment and defying traditions, challenging convention, and transcending millennia-old gender barriers. In 2019, Canaan was appointed as a member of the International Advisory Council of the Academic University for Non-Violence & Human Rights (AUNOHR) along with three Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mairead Maguire, and Adolfo Esquivel. In 2020, Canaan was prominently featured in the prestigious Encyclopedia, Pioneers from Lebanon which is endorsed by the Lebanese Ministry of Culture and sponsored by the UNESCO Cultural Heritage and Treasure Museum of Silk. In 2023, Canaan was featured among music legends and iconic Rock stars in the international best-selling American book series, ‘Rebel Girls Rock – 25 Tales of Women In Music’, with a foreword by iconic rock star Joan Jett, and activities curated by Gibson Guitars. Hailed by a prominent United Nations Ambassador as a “Diplomat Artist”, through her art, humanitarianism, and diplomacy, Canaan lends her strength to empowering and inspiring people worldwide and making the world a better one.
