Mohammed Rafi

He married his cousin, Bashira in his ancestral village. But she left India and went to Pakistan at the time of partition and thus the marriage ended.

His second marriage was to Bilquis. He had a total of seven children and was very much a family man. He was a very humble person with simple interests. He was dedicated to music and practiced regularly.

He died suddenly of a heart attack on 31 July, 1980 at the age of 55. His death came as a shock to the nation as he was a teetotaler with clean habits.

He was born as the fifth of six sons of Hajji Ali Mohammed and his wife in a village near Amritsar, Punjab. Rafi loved singing from a young age and used to imitate the chants of fakirs near his house.

The family moved to Lahore during the 1920s. It was in Lahore that Rafi’s elder brother’s friend, Abdul Hameed recognized the young boy’s talent and encouraged him to sing.

He learnt classical music from Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan and Firoze Nizami. Rafi started giving public performances as a teenager; his first performance was as a 13 year old.

In 1941, Rafi made his debut in Lahore as a playback singer with the duet, ‘Soniye Nee, Heeriye Nee’ with Zeenat Begum in the Punjabi film “Gul Baloch’. However, the film was released only in 1944.

He then moved to Bombay to try for a singing career in the Hindi film industry. He made his Hindi film debut with the movie, ‘Gaon Ki Gori’ in 1945. ‘Aji Dil Ho Kaaboo Mein’ from this movie is considered his first Hindi song.

During this time he also appeared on the screen in two movies. He appeared on the song ‘Tera Jalwa Jis Ne Dekha’ in the movie ‘Laila Majnu’ in 1945. He also made an appearance in ‘Shahjahan’ in 1946, a movie for which he sang a number of songs.

His popularity began to soar during the late 1940s. He sang the song ‘Tera Khilona Toota Balak’ from the movie ‘Anmol Ghadi in 1946 and ‘Yahan Badla Wafa Ka’ in the 1947 film, ‘Jugnu’.

He decided to stay in India after the partition and made Mumbai his home. It was a very good decision as his Hindi film career was going great and would help him touch newer heights.

Hailed as the ‘Best Singer of the Millennium’, Mohammed Rafi was undoubtedly one of the best known playback singers to have graced Indian cinema. A multiple award winner, he recorded thousands of songs over his career which was cut short by his untimely death.