He was born in 1930 in Sulaimani, Kurdistan. His father was a governor and he lived in many Kurdish towns and cities. After completing his primary education, he went to King Faisal College in Baghdad, which was a secondary school in that taught in the English language. It and accepted taught only the best Iraqi students.
After completing his studies, he was admitted to the Institute of Fine Arts and in 1951, he entered the College of Literature, Department of History, Baghdad University. He graduated from university in 1956 with a bachelor's degree in history, and he became a teacher in A’zamiya high school for boys. In 1959, he became a teacher of music culture at the Baghdad Institute of Fine Arts.
In 1963, he went to the United States to complete his higher education and received a master's degree in literature. When he returned to Kurdistan in 1971, he was appointed as an assistant professor in the College of Literature and when the university was transferred to Erbil and became Salahaddin University, he transferred to the university and worked there until he passed away.
Shamal Saib learned to play the oud since childhood and at the beginning of his artistic career he imitated Egyptian musician and singer Farid Atrashi. In the 1950s he found his voice and developed his own style of music, and made great contributions to the world of Kurdish music.
On #07-11-1986#, Kurdish singer Shamal Jalal Saib died in Erbil after a long illness. His body was brought back to Sulaymaniyah and buried in his family cemetery. The Kurdish nation lost a great artist.[1]