MOHHAMED RAFI
(24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980)
(All time Immortal Golden Voice)
Mohammad Rafi was most popular playback singer of all time in Film Industry. He was born on 24, December, 1924 in Kotla Sultan Singh, a village near Amritsar, (Punjab) before India attained its independence .Lovingly addressed as “Pheeko” by his family.
His father, Hajji Ali Mohammad moved to Lahore in 1940, where he ran a man’s salon shop. He was the second youngest of six brothers. He learnt classical music from Ustad Ghulam Ali Khan, Pandit Jiwan Lal and Firoze Nizami. His elder brother’s, sister in law after seeing talent in him encourage him to sing and taken him to Mumbai in 1944.
In Mumbai he took a room on rent in Bhindi Bazar where he live with his wife Abdul Hameed.Music Director Shyam Sundar give him the opportunity to sing his first recorded song in a Hindi film industry ‘Aji dil ho qaabu mein to dildar ki aisi taisi…’ for Gaon Ki Gori..Mohd. Rafi was greatly influenced by the singers like K. L Saigal and G. M. Durrani.
Mohd Rafi has worked with 252 music director. Rafi worked in association with various famous Composers O. P. Nayyar, Shankar Jaikishan, S.D. Burman ,Roshan, and Music directors such as Naushad,, Shyam Sunder, S D Burman. Most notably with Naushad who helped him to establish himself as a legendry playback singers in Hindi Film Industry.
Mohammed Rafi was known for his kind behavior, which was exhibited on several occasions.He has been known to charge just a token amount as his fees for singing songs of Music Directors who could not afford his regular charges. Many a times Mohammed Rafi has sung songs without charging a single penny to the Music Directors.
Mohd. Rafi peak came during the 1960s when he provided the voice for such influential Indian actors as Shammi Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Rajendra Kumar, Dev Anand, Shashi Kapoor, Raj Kumar, and Kishore Kumar.
He is best known for romantic & duet songs. He sang 4,516 Hindi film songs, 112 non-Hindi film songs, and 328 private (non-film) songs from 1945 to 1980. Mohd Rafi saahab has sung in 12 languages including English songs.
Awards
- Rafi received a silver medal from prime minister on first Independence Day anniversiry.
- Six times winner of famous Film Fare Award.
- Padmashri by the Government of India
- “Best Singer of the Millennium” by Hero Honda
- “Best Singer of the Millennium” by Star Dust Magzine
Personal life
Mohd. Rafi married twice. Eldest son Khalid Rafi was from the first marriage who goes to Pakistan after India Partition & two sons and three daughters from his second marriage with Bilquis rafi with whom he married in Mumbai.
Famous Songs
| “Husnwale Tera Jawab Nahin” | ||||
| “Aye Gulbadan Aye Gulbadan” | ||||
| “Mere Mehboob Tujhe” | ||||
| “Chahunga Main Tujhe” | ||||
Death
He died of heart-attack on the 31st of July 1980. His funeral procession was one of the largest that the city of Mumbai has ever witnessed. The world of Music lost one of its brightest luminaries on 31st July 1980 but his melodious voice still stops music lovers in their tracks.