Portrait of Raffi

Birthday profile

Raffi

Raffi, Egyptian-Canadian singer-songwriter

Born
July 8, 1948
Age in 2026
78
Zodiac sign
Cancer
Birth year
1948

About Raffi

Raffi Cavoukian (Armenian: Րաֆֆի, born 8 July 1948), known professionally by the mononym Raffi, is an Armenian-Canadian singer-lyricist and author. A performer of children's music, theThe Washington Post called him "the most popular children's singer in the English-speaking world". He founded the Raffi Foundation for Child Honouring, an initiative focused on promoting children's rights and well-being. He has also been involved in advocacy for environmental and social causes, addressing issues like commercial exploitation of children and climate change through his music and public appearances. == Early life == Raffi was born in Cairo, Egypt, to Armenian Christian parents who fled Turkey during the Armenian genocide. His mother Lucie Cavoukian named him after the Armenian novelist Raffi. He was exposed to music at a young age, as his mother sang to him and his father sang and played accordion. In a 2024 interview, he noted that "In my early childhood, growing up in a fairly authoritarian family, my parents loved me greatly. But it was at times a coercive love, not exactly a respectful love". The family left Egypt in 1952, living in Jerusalem and Syria before immigrating to Canada in 1958, eventually settling in Toronto, Ontario.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

Raffi timeline

  1. His first album, Singable Songs for the Very Young, was produced in his friend's basement and released in 1976.
  2. Raffi also incorporated many world music sounds into his records, including "Sambalele" (More Singable Songs, 1977) and "Anansi" (The Corner Grocery Store, 1979).

The world when Raffi was born

Raffi was born in 1948. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1948

  • #1 song"Twelfth Street Rag" – Pee Wee Hunt
  • Top movieHamlet
  • Top TV showTexaco Star Theater (Milton Berle)
  • Best-selling bookThe Naked and the Dead – Norman Mailer

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentCleveland Indians win the World Series
  • Top headlineState of Israel declared
  • Technology milestoneLong-playing vinyl record (LP) introduced
  • Defining fadTelevision sets in homes
  • Notable inventionVelcro
  • World population2.50 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderHarry S. Truman
  • Sports championCleveland Indians (World Series)
  • Also wonBaltimore Bullets (BAA)
  • U.S. population146.6M

1948 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Raffi's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19482026
Gas$0.26$3.45/gal
Average home$8,300$435,000
Average income$5,000$67,500
Minimum wage$0.40$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.40$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population146.6M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, MusicBrainz. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.