Googoosh: A Sinful Voice

by Googoosh, Tara Dehlavi (primary_contributor)

Before there was Madonna or Beyoncé, there was Googoosh. For the first time, one of the biggest pop stars of the 20th century tells her remarkable her rise to fame in pre-revolution Iran, her arrest and imprisonment, her twenty-year exile, and finally, her triumphant return to the global stage.

“My story is not only my story. It’s about our past, my country, how it was, what it became, what happened to the people, to artists.”

What would happen to a country’s biggest pop star if religious extremists took control? In the wake of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, singer Googoosh found out. She was ordered by her government to never sing again, and for twenty years, she didn’t...until she did.

Now, in this lyrical and moving memoir, pop superstar Googoosh unveils her unforgettable journey. From her difficult upbringing in Iran’s tumultuous 1950s and ’60s to her stardom in the ’70s, she reveals what it was like to reach the peak of her career just as the 1979 Islamic Revolution swept the country. Seemingly overnight, she went from being on magazine covers, at film premieres and fashion shows, and constantly on the radio, to targeted by religious clerics. What followed is a harrowing tale of oppression, intimidation, and exile.

After more than twenty years—forbidden to sing or speak out—she found her voice at the turn of the millennium, once again on the international stage. Now, inspired by the brave women of Iran on the front lines fighting for their freedoms, Googoosh finally tells her full story, and with it, the story of a country once again on the brink.

Genres: Biography, Memoir, Iran

336 pages, Hardcover

Published December 2, 2025

Reviews

[Rees]

Loved Googoosh ever since I learned about her and the Iranian Revolution through the Khruangbin music video for “Maria También.”

Highly recommend “Nimeyeh Gomshodeyeh Man” by Googoosh. It’s such a great song.

Googoosh literally out-discos disco.

[Amir · Rating 5 out of 5]

جذاب و نفس‌گیر

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

ICON is a euphemism. Incredible perspective on what Iranians lost and felt after the Islamic Revolution.

[Dorna L · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would love to see this made into a movie. Googoosh's story is powerful and heart wrenching. This was a great read

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rounded up to a 3. Don't bother reading unless you know who this singer is otherwise it's not something that would appeal. When I met my husband in college many of the Persian students would have weekly parties and the music of Googoosh would be on repeat from cassette tapes. The Persian girls would talk of her latest hairstyle and fashion. She was a very big deal! Her story has me conflicted. Her home life underscores the "dark" side of Persian culture that unfortunately the society has not been able to escape: family abuse, sexism, classism, rigidity, conservative religion, etc. Also, some Persians embellish their stories and I cant help to think she maybe no different. She claims to be poor and broke, yet lives in the wealthy area of Northern Tehran, she skis, she talks of her gold and diamonds, etc, she marries often and indulges in a drug habit for years, she hangs out with the Shah and his family, so is she poor? I don't think so.

[Sahara Sajjadi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvelous. What a world they stole from us

[Eli Nokhbeh · Rating 4 out of 5]

با اینکه خاطرات جامع و کاملی نبود ولی از خوندنش لذت بردم و صحنه ها طوری بیان شده بودن که کاملا درد را چه روحی و روانی، چه جسمی میشود حس کرد.
و ممنونم که با تمامی سختی هایی که کشیدی ولی با ترانه هات تو همه لحظات با ما بودی. تو غم ، شادی ، عاشقی و ...

[Alex Bagheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m reading this with my partner and it’s the best way to introduce and immerse someone in Persian culture and history.

Iran is a complicated country with a complicated history, but this memoir does an excellent job of tying everything together through an engaging narrative where we experience the rise and fall of Iran’s modern ‘golden era’ through the rise and fall of Googoosh and the journey back to the stage.

Through music, politics, history, religion and revolution. It’s like an epic TV show, with each episode/chapter covering a riveting piece of history/drama with an entertaining cast of characters. I hope they make this into something like The Crown!

We really enjoyed reading this together and we continue to enjoy discussing the multifaceted world viewed through Googoosh’s POV!

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twenty-five years ago, I made my feature-length documentary film about Googoosh—Iran’s most celebrated female singer—while she was still living in Iran and forbidden to perform or grant interviews due to the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

I have now read her long-awaited autobiography, which provides the personal narrative my film could not capture: her own account of fame, repression, and resilience. The book is a bold and unflinching portrait of her life before and after the Revolution, and yet another taboo-shattering achievement in a society where women are not supposed to unveil their voices—much less the intimate details of their lives.

While the memoir is substantial and richly detailed, I found myself wishing it were longer. Certain sections and chapters feel compressed, as if shaped by editorial restraint rather than narrative exhaustion, and I hope that at some point an unabridged edition might be published.

I noted three instances where opportunities were missed to emphasize how popular Googoosh was in Iran and the surrounding countries, and why her sudden erasure from the public eye—and ear—was so shocking:

There is no photograph from her first wedding to Mahmoud Ghorabni. Googoosh was so famous that her marriage at seventeen was covered extensively by the press. She was already a star before that marriage.

Her final film, Dar Emtedadeh Shab (Along the Extension of the Night), was the highest-grossing film in Iranian history (prior to the revolution), and she was so popular in the region that it was even dubbed into Russian.

Finally, in 1991, the Iranian government—seeking to build diplomatic relations with Tajikistan, where Googoosh is regarded as a patron saint—allowed a Tajik journalist, Mohyedin Alempour, to interview her for a book he was writing. He was permitted to photograph her without the mandatory headscarf, but she was not allowed to speak on camera. It would have been illuminating to hear her perspective on this encounter—whether an IRI agent was present to monitor the exchange, and how narrowly defined her freedom remained. Tragically, Alempour was assassinated in 1995 during the Tajik Civil War.

None of the above are criticisms so much as a wish list for an unabridged edition. The memoir, as it stands, is an engaging, thoughtful, and highly recommended read. Googoosh’s life is simply so extraordinary that it seems to demand an even more expansive treatment.

I will end with this memorable quote:

“The rupture of tradition is most visible and least tolerated in the arena of women’s emancipation.”
— Farzaneh Milani

[Nima Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a way to start 2026! Googoosh was so much more than just a pop star for the Iranians who grew up knowing her. During the Shah's reign, she represented independence and courage for all women, as she created her own fashion and hairstyles. Her voice conveyed joy and sadness simultaneously, as though she was singing only to you. As times changed and she resurfaced in our lives, she represented so much more: she represented "hope," hope for a future where, as displaced Iranians , we don't have to lose our past to find our future. I believe this memoir could have been much more detailed, and I am certain it only brushed the surface of her life. Nonetheless, I am immensely grateful to have read it, and like many of her fans, she is and will forever be the voice that represents all of us, eternally. ( ps. I still have the bootlegged cassette tapes i bought as a teenager in Tehran, and listened to them over and over again in my Walkman, under my hijab!)

[Fereydoon Kharrazi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully nostalgic journey—Googoosh’s story moved me deeply, bringing both tears and smiles. Truly touching.