In the very beginning, Abdel Halim worked as a teacher of music at schools in Tanta and El-Mahalla El-Kubra. While singing in clubs in Cairo, Abdel Halim was drafted as a last-minute substitute when the singer Karem Mahmoud was unable to sing a scheduled live radio performance in 1953. Abdel Halim’s performance was heard by Hafez Abdel Wahab, the supervisor of musical programming for Egyptian national radio. Abdel Halim took ‘Hafez’, Abdel Wahab’s first name, as his stage-surname in recognition of his patronage.

In 1969 Halim built a hospital in Egypt. He treated the poor, the rich, and presidents equally in the Arab World.

Abdel Halim died of liver failure as a complication from Schistosoma mansoni (reference St. George’s University School of Medicine) on March 30, 1977 (a few months before his 48th birthday) while undergoing treatment for Bilharzia in King’s College Hospital, London. His funeral in Cairo was attended by millions of people – more than any funeral in the history of the Middle East, other than that of President Nasser. He had many more dreams and goals that he wanted to achieve and surpass and could have, but his early death prevented him from doing so. Some people committed suicide once they heard of Halim’s passing. It has been reported that at least four women committed suicide by jumping off the balcony during his funeral march. He was buried in Al Bassatin Cemetery in Cairo.

Abdel Halim Hafez’s song “Khosara” (Arabic: خسارة‎) received notice in the Western world in 1999 when elements from it were used for Jay-Z’s recording “Big Pimpin’.” Two complete bars from “Khosara” were rerecorded, not sampled, and used without permission from the song’s producer and copyright holder, Magdi el-Amroussi. Jay-Z’s use of an interpolation, rather than an actual sample, allowed him to avoid paying royalties for the use of the song.

A feature film about his life, “Haleem”, was released in 2006, starring Ahmad Zaki in the title role, produced by the Good News Group. In the same year a soap opera “Al-andaleeb hikayt shaab” was produced in Egypt with Shadi Shamel starring as Abdel Halim. Shamel won the lead role in a televised competition.

On 19 April 2019, Labanese singer Carole Samaha performed alongside a hologram of Abdel Halim Hafez at the Manara Hall in New Cairo. The concert, titled “Helm” (dream), was Egypt’s first hologram concert.