In recent years, scholars of the Middle East have paid increasing attention to the quotidian ways that people experience their world through music. Historians of modern Egypt have examined radios, cassette players, and other sound technologies that changed how a vast public heard its favorite singers (Fahmy 2020; Simon 2022). Scholars of the Maghreb have lent a similarly ground-level ear to the ways in which recorded music moved across national borders, creating a regional listenership for many early-twentieth-century divas (Silver 2022). Yet, little work has considered how audiences engage with music beyond listening, the many things they do and that often form a distinct fan culture. As a result, scholarship overlooks a broader array of practices through which ordinary people across the region interact with music and popular culture. This talk investigates music fandom through the lens of the Egyptian singer Abd al-Halim Hafiz (1929-1977). Fandom has long been a part of Arab music culture, its development intertwined with the popular press and cinema industry from the early twentieth century. Ardent admirers collected song lyrics of their favorite singers, sent them fan letters, and adorned bedroom walls with photos of their visage torn from magazines. Fan culture around Abd al-Halim, however, went far beyond. Following his death in 1977, devotees began meeting at the singer’s tomb each spring to celebrate his life, an event that now attracts tens of thousands from across Egypt and beyond. In this talk, I draw on print sources, private archival materials, and a variety of fan “texts”—memorabilia, graffiti, homemade art—to examine how ordinary people interact with the memory and music of Abd al-Halim. I trace the rise of Halim fandom after his death and development of his “zikra,” or annual commemoration. As I show, central to the singer’s affective power for fans is the notion of proximity, that he remains tangible. Fans themselves foster this feeling, but I also argue that it is rooted in the music Abd al-Halim made during his lifetime. Ultimately, this talk sheds light on the unique afterlife of one of the region’s most iconic figures while bringing into new focus people’s everyday engagement with music and popular culture.