Paul Baghdadlian
Tuesday, June 4, 2024Paul Baghdadlian, often known simply as Paul, was an Armenian-American singer, and songwriter, composer, musician, entertainer, and businessman. He is referred to as the King of Love Songs. His music is loved by many Armenians and particularly by the Armenian diaspora.
Paul was born as Krikor Baghdadlian on July 10, 1953, in Aleppo, Syria, to Armenian parents Baruyr Baghdadlian and Arousing Baghdadlian. He had a brother named Aram Baghdadlian and a sister named Anahid Baghdadlian. He had great success in singing modern Armenian music after moving to Beirut, Lebanon. In 1965, at the age of 12, his mother died (his father eventually remarried and settled in Pasadena, CA). Struggling to live his daily life, he started performing to make his living.
During the early 1970s, Paul Baghdadlian was known as Paul the Prince and was singing only English songs. After listening to a fellow singer of the Armenian diaspora music Harout Pamboukjian, however, Baghadadlian started to sing in Armenian, mostly performing love songs.
Having achieved great success in Beirut and the Middle East in this new phase of his career, he moved to Los Angeles, California in 1977 for an international career. In Los Angeles, he produced hundreds of recordings, mostly ballads, most of which he sang in Armenian, though he sang in a number of other languages, most notably Arabic and English. Many of his songs were recorded and produced by Parseghian Records in Los Angeles.
He often toured the major centers of the Armenian diaspora and Armenia. On November 27, 2010, Paul Baghdadlian performed a concert in Laval, Canada. This concert happened to be his last prior to his death 7 months later.
Baghdadlian died on June 28, 2011, after a long battle with lung cancer. He died in Glendale Adventist Medical Center, where he was being hospitalized. The cause of death was ruled to be respiratory failure due to cancer. He left behind three children: sons Paul Baghdadlian Jr and Christopher Baghdadlian from his first wife Ani Baghdadlian, and one daughter, Virginie Baghdadlian from his second wife Dzaghig Florence Baghdadlian.