Abu Baker Salim, also known as Abu Bakr bin Salem bin Muhammad bin Shihab (Arabic: ابو بكر بن سالم بن محمد بن شهاب), was born in 1937 in Hadramaut, Yemen. His father died when he was one year old, and he was raised by his grandfather, Muhammad bin Shihab. He began his art when he was 16 years old, with the song “You Came to Walk Slowly.” He graduated from the Teachers Institute in 1957 and worked as an Arabic language teacher in Aden.