December 25 2020
Ramesh, one of the popular pop singers from before the revolution, passed away in Los Angeles November 30 at the age of 70.
Her birth name was Azar Mohebbi Tehrani. She began her singing career at the age of 14 in 1964 by appearing in a radio classical music program. A few years later, she shifted to pop. She wrote many of her songs herself.
Her song “River,” inspired by the Persian “Little Black Fish” story, was one of her most popular compositions.
Once restrictions were imposed on female singers by the clerical regime, she decided to leave the country. She performed irregularly in Europe and North America over the years, but in 2002 gave up singing to protest the regime’s ban on female singers.
Ramesh said, “At first, my withdrawal from singing was a protest to the banning of my fellow women compatriots from expressing their internal feelings by singing. They could not have their voice heard by others. Gradually, I got used to this protest and it remained with me for years. Now, if one day I return to Iran, I will sing from the bottom of my heart for my people.”
Ramesh never married and lived with her mother until her mother’s death in 2016 in Los Angeles.