Before Beyoncé, before Cher, before Madonna, there was Googoosh.
Teh 75-year-old Iranian megastar catapulted to stardom in Iran during the 1970s, only to be silenced by the Islamist regime that took power after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.In 2000, she was finally allowed to leave Iran to live in exile.
For Iranians – especially those in the diaspora - Googoosh symbolizes an era of cosmopolitanism in late-Pahlavi Iran, the period from the mid-1950s until 1979 when Iran’s popular music, cinema, television and fashion embraced modernity and questioned social norms.
But as protests roil Iran and the nation’s clerical leaders find their grip on power slipping, the “Voice of Iran,” as Googoosh is known,hasn’t turned up the volume. Rather, she’s found herself putting her farewell tour on pause.
“Everyone is waiting for my last concert in LA,” Googoosh told reporters in December 2025, “but … I am not going to sing until my country is rescued.”
Googoosh’s refusal to sing is not a sign of hesitation but a conscious political gesture – one that draws its force from her singular position in Iran’s cultural history.
Over the past several years,I’ve studied Googoosh’s trajectory as a musical and cultural icon. For Iranians inside and outside the country, she’s been a canvas onto which they’ve projected nostalgia for pre-revolutionary Iran, memories of rupture and loss, and fantasies of resistance.
A star is born
Born Faegheh Atashin in 1950,Googoosh was raised in Tehran by Muslim Azeri parents who had fled Soviet Azerbaijan. Even though civil authorities registered her under the perso-Arabic name Faegheh, her stage name, “Googoosh” – actually a male armenian name – endured.
She grew up onstage and onscreen. Her father, an acrobat, incorporated her into his act
iranian pop icon Googoosh returned to her homeland in 1979, a decision that surprised many given her rising fame and the escalating turmoil of the Iranian Revolution.She details the complex reasons behind this choice in her recently published memoir, ”Googoosh: A Sinful Voice.”
Though immensely popular in the late 1970s, Googoosh alleges financial mismanagement by her managers left her vulnerable as the revolution gained momentum. The Pahlavi regime’s attempts to quell unrest by closing cabarets and theaters – a concession to conservative forces – simultaneously eliminated her income. This financial pressure,coupled with mounting debt and struggles with substance abuse,contributed to her decision to return to Iran.
Googoosh writes that the new regime didn’t simply oppose popular culture; it actively suppressed enjoyment, especially when expressed by women. Under the Islamic Republic, music wasn’t considered art, but a purposeful provocation and a moral failing.
A practicing shiite Muslim herself, Googoosh recounts her shock at the cruelty enacted in the name of religious piety following the revolution. Before 1979, personal faith and public performance weren’t considered mutually exclusive in Iran.
Iranian culture in exile
The revolution triggered a large-scale cultural exodus. Millions of Iranians left the country, with a notable number settling in california. There, other prominent singers like Hayedeh,Mahasti, and Homeyra rebuilt their careers.
This diaspora created a vibrant, yet bittersweet, Iranian cultural scene outside of Iran, preserving artistic traditions that were suppressed within the country. The Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies offers further insight into this phenomenon.
