Nouri

Born in 1993 inside a Syrian refugee camp to parents who had escaped Iraq’s Kurdistan region amid the turmoil after the 1991 Gulf War, Vivian Nouri moved with her family to New Zealand once refugee status was granted, settling there at the age of three. From that point the Kurdish vocalist, noted for her soulful and empowering approach to pop and ballads, began singing and was already performing in local settings by ten. A string of talent competitions culminated in a trip to Los Angeles at seventeen that intensified her commitment to music, yet she first pursued a computer-science degree at university before stepping away in 2017 to spend a year in Los Angeles focused entirely on her craft. During that period she placed a song in Daddy’s Home 2 and performed the U.S. National Anthem at a Clippers game inside the Staples Center.

Her official debut single, “Where Do We Go from Here,” arrived in 2018 and climbed into the Top Ten of the New Zealand singles chart while also drawing listeners on streaming platforms across Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Palestine. The 2022 EP Handle with Care introduced her next single, “Favorite Goodbye,” and further releases followed, among them 2023’s “Love a Little Harder” and the 2024 track “Change Your Name,” which reached the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot Gospel Songs chart. That same year she joined singer Hass for the liberation-themed duet “Freedom.”