D O B December 24,1924
Languages Hindi, Telugu
Place of Birth Kotla Sultan Singh
Known For Singer
Married Yes

Biography Mohammed Rafi December July was an Indian playback singer whose career spanned four decades Mohammed Rafi is widely regarded as one of India's greatest playback singers Rafi was a versatile singer of Indian cinema and sang in many Indian languages including Hindi Konkani Urdu Bhojpuri Punjabi Bengali Marathi Sindhi Kannada Gujarati Maghi Mathili and Telugu He was effective in every type of singing including 'Bhajjans' and 'Qawwalies' He also recorded a few English and Persian songs He is primarily remembered however for his Hindi-Urdu songs He was the leading male singer in the Hindi film music industry in 's and 's inspite of the presence of Mukesh Talat Mahmood etc and won several awards including Padma Shri National Awards and Filmfare awards Rafi was born the youngest of six sons of Hajji Ali Mohammad at Kotla Sultan Singh a town near Amritsar in Punjab British India Rafi whose nickname was Pheeko started singing by imitating chants of a fakir in his village In - Rafi's father shifted to Lahore and the rest of the family followed later Rafi's family owned a men's salon in Lahore's Noor Mohalla It was his brother-in-law Mohammed Hameed who spotted the talent in Rafi and More encouraged him Rafi learnt classical music from maestros Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan Pandit Jiwanlal Matto and Firoze Nizami Rafi's first public performance came at the age of when he was allowed to sing at a concert featuring the legendary K L Saigal In Rafi under Shyam Sunder made his debut as a playback singer in the duet Soniye nee Heeriye nee with Zeenat Begum in the Punjabi film Gul Baloch the film was released in In that same year Rafi was invited by All India Radio Lahore station to sing for them Making his professional debut in the Shyam Sunder-directed film Gul Baloch and the Bombay film Gaon Ki Gauri the following year Rafi rose to the upper echelon of Indian music In Rafi moved to Bombay now Mumbai where poet Tanvir Naqvi introduced him to some of the leading film producers of the time such as Abdul Rashid Kardar Mehboob Khan and actor-director Nazeer Rafi contacted the famous music director Naushad who initially used him as part of the chorus Rafi's first song with Naushad was Hindustan ke hum hain with Shyam Kumar Alauddin and others from A R Kardar's Pehle Aap Around the same time Rafi recorded another song for the film Gaon ki Gori Aji dil ho kaaboo mein He considered this song his first Hindi language song In Rafi married his cousin Bashira nicknamed Majhi in his village In Rafi appeared on the screen for the song Tera Jalwa Jis Ne Dekha in the film Laila Majnu He sang a number of songs for Naushad as part of the chorus including Mere sapnon ki rani Roohi Roohi with K L Saigal from the film Shahjahan Rafi was first noted for the song Tera Khilona Toota Balak from Mehboob Khan's Anmol Ghadi His duet with Noor Jehan in the film Jugnu Yahan Badla Wafa Ka became a hit Following the partition Rafi decided to stay in India and had his family flown to Bombay Whereas Noor Jahan migrated to Pakistan and made a hit pair with famous singer Ahmed Rushdi In Rafi sang Suno Suno Aye Duniya Walon Bapu Ki Ye Amar Kahani written by Rajendra Krishan which became a huge hit He was invited by the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to sing at the latter's house In Rafi received a silver medal from Nehru on the Indian Independence Day In Rafi was given solo songs by music directors such as Naushad Chandni Raat Dillagi and Dulari Shyam Sunder Bazaar and Husnalal Bhagatram Meena Bazaar Rafi's association with Naushad helped the former establish himself as one of the most prominent playback singers in Bollywood Songs from Baiju Bawra like O duniya ke rakhwale and Man tarpat Hari darshan ko aaj furthered Rafi's credentials Naushad who heretofore had been using Talat Mahmood for his songs began favoring Rafi as the male voice in almost every song he composed Rafi would sing a total of songs of them solo for Naushad In the late s and s Rafi found favor with other notable composers of the era such as O P Nayyar Shankar Jaikishan and S D Burman Burman patronized Rafi as the singing voice of Dev Anand Rafi worked with Burman in movies like Pyaasa Kaagaz Ke Phool Tere Ghar ke Saamne Guide Aradhana and Abhimaan O P Nayyar was so impressed with Rafi that he got Rafi to sing a song Man mora baawara for singer-actor Kishore Kumar in the movie Raagini Later Rafi would sing for Kishore Kumar in movies such as Baaghi Shehzaada and Shararat Nayyar employed Rafi and Asha Bhosle for most of his songs The team created many hit songs in early s and s for movies such as Naya Daur Tumsa Nahin Dekha and Kashmir Ki Kali br br Rafi sang a total of numbers solo for Nayyar Rafi and Shankar Jaikishan were one of the most successful singer-music director pairs in the Hindi film industry Under the baton of Shankar Jaikishan Rafi produced his best numbers for heroes like Shammi Kapoor and Rajendra Kumar Out of six Filmfare awards Rafi won three for S-J songs viz Teri pyari pyari soorat ko Baharon phool barsao and Dil ke jharokhe mein The iconic song Yahoo Chahe koi mujhe junglee kahe was sung with aplomb by Rafi only to be matched a furiously-paced orchestra and a superb composition by Shankar Jaikishan S-J made Rafi give playback for Kishore Kumar in the film Sharart Ajab hai daastan teri yeh zindagi Rafi sang a total of numbers solo for Shankar-Jaikishan The hit films of this combination to name only a few are Basant Bahar Professor Junglee Suraj Brahmachari An Evening in Paris Dil Tera Deewana Yakeee Prince Love in Tokyo Beti Bete Dil Ek Mandir Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai Gaban Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai and many-many more Rafi got his first Filmfare Award for the title song of Chaudhvin Ka Chand composed by Ravi He got National Award for the song Babul Ki Duaen Leti Ja from the film Neel Kamal also composed by Ravi Ravi and Rafi produced several other hit songs in the films China Town Kaajal and Do Badan Madan Mohan was another composer whose favorite singer was Rafi Rafi's first solo with Madan Mohan in Ankhen Hum ishq mein barbad hain barbad rahenge was a great hit They teamed up to produce many songs including Teri Aankhon ke Siva Rang aur noor ki baraat Yeh Duniya Yeh Mehfil and Tum Jo Mil Gaye Ho The composer duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal L-P also patronized Rafi as one of their leading singers right from their very first film Parasmani Both Rafi and L-P won the Filmfare Awards for the song Chahoonga main tujhe saanjh savere from Dosti Rafi sang a total of numbers solo for L-P Once when famous composer Nisar Bazmi did not have enough money to pay him Rafi charged a fee of one rupee and sang for him The s witnessed the straining of relations between Rafi and the leading female playback singer in Hindi films Lata Mangeshkar Lata had wanted Rafi to back her in demanding a half-share from the five percent song royalty that the film's producer conceded to select composers But Rafi took a diametrically opposite view and believed that a playback singer's claim on the filmmaker ended with the payment of the agreed fee for the song During the recording of Tasveer Teri Dil Mein Maya Lata argued with Rafi over a certain passage of the song Rafi felt belittled as music director Salil Chowdhury sided with Lata The situation worsened when Lata Mangeshkar declared that she would no longer sing with Rafi Rafi stated that he was only so keen to sing with Lata as she was with him Later at the insistence of S D Burman the two decided to reconcile and sing duets on a personal level there was still tension During his last years Rafi was involved in a controversy over Lata Mangeshkar's introduction in to the Guinness Book of World Records In a letter dated June to the Guinness Book of World Records Rafi had challenged the claim that Lata Mangeshkar has recorded the maximum number of songs not less than according to Guinness After receiving a rather escapist reply from Guinness in a letter dated November he wrote I am disappointed that my request for a reassessment vis-a-vis Ms Mangeshkar's reported world record has gone unheeded After Rafi's death in its edition the Guinness Book of Word Records stated Lata Mangeshkar's name for the Most Recordings but also stated Mohammad Rafi d Aug sic claimed to have recorded songs in Indian languages between and April Many fans of Rafi state that he has sung over songs However according to the available figures Rafi has sung Hindi film songs non-Hindi film songs and private non-film songs from to The Guinness Book entries for both Rafi and Lata were later removed in Between and Rafi was the most sought after singers in Bollywood He sang for all the major male stars in Hindi films In he was honoured by the Government of India with the Padma Sri award Rafi recorded two Hindi songs in English on release in He also sang a song in Creole while on his visit to Mauritius in the late s Rafi recorded two English albums as well br br One of them is Pop Hits In Bollywood yodeling is generally associated with Kishore Kumar but Rafi introduced yodeling in Indian film as playback singing Rafi yodeled in some of his old songs such as Hello sweety seventeen duet with Asha Bhosle O Chale ho kaha Dilke Aine main and Unse Rippy Tippy Ho gayee duet with Geeta Dutt