Mohammad Rafi

Short Biography

Muhammad Rafi, whose voice brought to life hundreds of melodies, was born in village Kotta Sultan Singh in Lucknow long before India attained its independence.but music training beckoned him to Lahore where he cut his musical teeth under the hawk-like-eye of Ustad Ghulam Ali Khan.he made his singing debut in the Punjab film Gul Balock by rendering a duet couth Zeenat Begum, "Soniye Ni Heeriye Ni" composed by Shyamsunden.Wadia movietone was a prominent film company and it was Homi Wadia who saw the talent in Mohammad Rafi was insisted that he sing for his fothcoming film Sharbati Ankhen when under the music directorship of Feroz Nizomi.the voice of Mohammad Rafi encompassed a tremendous range, which is unpralleled.the peculiar trait that saperates a playback singer from classic vocalist is not the range of ability as a singer but the voice quality with Mohammad Rafi it was a ultimate combination that helped him reign supreme in the feild of playback singer.his voice quality combined with his unsurpassed range made him stand apart from his contemporaries.his voice suited any genre of music be it a moving ghazal like Aap Ke Pehloo Main Ankan Ro Diye, a plaintive bhajan like O Duniya Ke Rakhwale, or a wild and whacks Shunker-Jaikishan composition like Chahe Koi Mujhe Jungle Kahe.Mohammad Rafi added his delectable nuances to the melody and made it immortal.his voice had this unique feature of screen adapt ability and when it managed witth his intelligence as a singer it helped him to tailor his voice across an arras of faces that remain entrenehed in our memory books.comedian Johnny Walker had a voice that was queerly rounded.Mohammad Rafi his take on him was phenomenulin in songs like Sar Jo Tera Chakrage under S D Burman in pegasa and Aye Din Hsi Mushkil Jeena Yaha from CID.Mohammad Rafi managed to sound exactly like Johnny Walker would if he sang the song himself.Rafi summoned Johnny Walker a day or two priors to the song picturization and then contributed his bit to add to the character Johnny Walker played on screen.Honestly speaking it would not be in any way or over statement to say that hereos like Biswjit {Lakhan Hai Nigahan Mein}, Bharat Bhushan {Zindagi Bhan Nahin Bhoolegi Woh Barsat Ki Raat}, Joy Mukherjee {Bade Miyan Deewane] are remembered more for the songs that were pictured on them with Rafi lending his golden voice to their average acting abilities.Mohammad Rafi was known for his altruishc 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 of times Mohammad Rafi has sung songs without charging a single penny to the music directors.a case in point is the film Aap Ke Deewane with which actor Rakesh Roshan began his phase asa producer-director.Rafi sang the title of the film did not charge any money because he felt that he liked the song a lot and after all it was only a line, which he had to render.very few singers were known to be so good at heart.this innate goodness in him came to the fore when he sang most of his songs.in his glorious career Mohammad Rafi won the coveted filmfare award of best playback singer no less then six times.he was also decorated with the padmashri by the Government of India-with the advent of Kishore Kumar as a major singer sensation on Rafi sahab`s career recieved a slight Jolt in the late 60s and the early 70s but he bounced back with verve with film like Sargam, Karz, Hum Kisise Kam Nahin, poonan and his last song under the baton of laximikant-pyarel of for the film Aas Paas.he succumbed to the dreaded heart-attack on the 31st of july 1980-ironically the man was a teetotaler and a non-smoking.he was in his mid fifties.