Samir Shukry was born in the town of Akko (Acre) to a musical family. His father, Sodki Shukry, was a professor of Arabic music who also excelled at playing the oud and violin.   Samir Shukry recorded his first song and was played on Israeli radio at the age of five.  The words and melody were written by his father.  The song was titled "The Carpenter's Door is Broken." By the age of 8 his father was giving him violin lessons and at age 10 he taught himself to play the oud. At the age of 14, heavily influenced by the rock-and-roll craze sweeping Israel, he formed a band called "The Red Lovers" with three childhood friends. After finishing high school at Terra Santa in Akko, Samir left for New York City to continue his musical odyssey.  He graduated from Queens College in New York with a Bachelor of Arts degree double majoring in Western Classical Music and Music Education. He produced his first album in 1982, titled "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow."  It covered a wide variety of classics including Oum Kartoum's Inta Umri and hits by Israeli phenomenon Zohar Argov. In 1983 he released his second album "Heart to Heart" that included the hit Habibi Ya Eini (My Love My Eyes). Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.