Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( /seɪlɪn dɪɒn/ (help·info)), CC, OQ (born March 30, 1968) is a Canadian singer, occasional songwriter, actress, and entrepreneur. Born to a large, impoverished family in Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record.In 1990, she released the anglophone album Unison, establishing herself as a viable pop artist in North America and other English-speaking areas of the world.
Madonna (born Madonna Louise Ciccone; August 16, 1958) is an American recording artist, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan and raised in Rochester Hills, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977, for a career in modern dance. After performing as a member of the pop musical groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her self-titled debut album, Madonna in 1983 by Sire Records.
A series of hit singles from her studio albums Like a Virgin (1984) and True Blue (1986) gained her global recognition, establishing her as a pop icon for pushing the boundaries of lyrical content in mainstream popular music and imagery in her music videos, which became a fixture on MTV. Her recognition was augmented by the film Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) which widely became seen as a Madonna vehicle, despite her not playing the lead. Expanding on the use of religious imagery with Like a Prayer (1989), Madonna received positive critical reception for her diverse musical productions, while at the same time receiving criticism from religious conservatives and the Vatican. In 1992, Madonna founded the Maverick corporation, a joint venture between herself and Time Warner. The same year, she expanded the use of sexually explicit material in her work, beginning the release of the studio album Erotica, followed by the publishing of the coffee table book Sex, and starring in the erotic thriller Body of Evidence, all of which received negative responses from conservatives and liberals alike.
Aaliyah Dana Haughton (January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001), who performed under the mononym Aaliyah (pronounced /əˈliːə/), was an American recording artist, actress and model. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, and was raised in Detroit, Michigan. At an early age, she appeared on Star Search and performed in concert alongside Gladys Knight. At age 12, Aaliyah was signed to Jive Records and Blackground Records by her uncle, Barry Hankerson. He introduced her to R. Kelly, who became her mentor, as well as lead songwriter and producer of her debut album. Age Ain't Nothing But a Number sold two million copies in the United States and was certified double Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). After facing allegations of an illegal marriage with Kelly, Aaliyah ended her contract with Jive and signed to Atlantic Records.
Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques[1] (born January 9, 1973),simply known as Sean Paul, is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall musician.
Life and career 1973-1999: Early life Sean Paul is from Toronto, Canada, and spent his early years "comfortably"in Upper Saint Andrew Parish, a few miles north of his birthplace. His parents, Garth and Frances, were both talented athletes, and his mother is a well-known painter.His paternal grandfather was a Sephardic Jew whose family immigrated from Portugal, and his paternal grandmother was Afro-Caribbean; his mother is of English and Jamaican descent.Sean Paul was raised a Catholic.Many members of his family are swimmers.His grandfather was on the first Jamaican men's national water polo team.His father also played water polo for the team in the 1960s, and competed in long-distance swimming, while Sean Paul's mother was a backstroke swimmer.Sean Paul played for the national water polo team from the age of thirteen to twenty-one.However, he gave up the sport in order to launch his musical career. He attended the Wolmers High School for Boys, where he was trained as a classical flautist, Belair High School and the College of Arts, Science, and Technology (CAST) which is now known as the University of Technology (UTech).
The Backstreet Boys are a Grammy-nominated American boy band. They were the first group launched by boy band mogul Lou Pearlman, and have been together since April 20, 1993.They have had 13 Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and have sold over 100 million albums making them the best selling boy band of all time.
After returning to the music scene in 2005, their sound changed dramatically, incorporating only live instruments (some of which they play themselves) and a more guitar and piano driven pop rock sound. The four-member group consists of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell and A. J. McLean. Original member Kevin Richardson left the group on June 23, 2006 to start a family,but the four-piece refused to rule out a possible return for the singer.
Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California, formed in 1996. Since their formation, the band has sold more than 50 million albums and won two Grammy Awards.It achieved mainstream success with its debut album, Hybrid Theory, which was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2005.Its following studio album, Meteora, continued the band's success, topping the Billboard 200’s album charts in 2003, and was followed by extensive touring and charity work around the world.In 2003, MTV2 named Linkin Park the sixth greatest band of the music video era and the third best of the new millennium behind Oasis and Coldplay.
Having adapted the nu metal and rap rock genres to a radio-friendly yet densely-layered style in Hybrid Theory and Meteora,the band explored other genres in their next studio album, Minutes to Midnight.The album topped the Billboard charts and had the third best debut week of any album that year.They have also collaborated with several other artists, most notably with rapper Jay-Z in their mashup album Collision Course, and many others on Reanimation.
DeAndre Ramone Way (born July 28, 1990), better known by his stage name Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, or simply Soulja Boy, is an American rapper and record producer.
In September 2007, his single "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The single was initially self-published on the Internet, and it became a number-one hit in the United States for seven non-consecutive weeks starting in September 2007. Early life Soulja Boy Tell 'Em was born in Chicago and moved to Atlanta at age six,where he became interested in rap music.At age 14, he moved to Batesville, Mississippi, with his father, who provided a recording studio for Way to explore his musical ambitions.
Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer and entertainer. Born in Mississippi and raised in Louisiana, Spears first appeared on national television in 1992 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The New Mickey Mouse Club from 1993 to 1994. In 1997, Spears signed a recording contract with Jive, releasing her debut album ...Baby One More Time in 1999. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, and established her as a pop icon and "bona fide pop phenomenon", credited for influencing the revival of teen pop in the late 1990s.Her next three albums also debuted at number one. After two compilation albums, Spears released Blackout, her only studio album which did not debut at number one. In December 2008, her sixth studio album, Circus, was released.
In the years following her ascent to pop superstar, Spears' personal life has been a frequent subject of celebrity and tabloid journalism. Spears was married twice, most notably to Kevin Federline, had two kids, and was the subject of a reality TV show with Federline in Britney & Kevin: Chaotic. After their divorce, Spears dealt with several personal struggles before resuming her professional career with 2007's Blackout.
According to Zomba Label Group and Sony BMG, Spears has sold over 83 million records worldwide.In addition, she is ranked as the eighth best-selling female recording artist in the U.S. with 32 million copies of her albums certified by the RIAA,and is currently the fifth best selling artist act of the decade in the country, as well as the top selling female artist.Spears is also ranked by Forbes 2009 issue as the 13th most powerful celebrity and the 2nd most top-earning young musician with over $35 million dollars in earnings this year.
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll (born: February 2, 1977)[2] known simply as Shakira, شاكيرا in Arabic (English pronunciation: /ʃəˈkɪərə/, Spanish: [tʃaˈkiɾa] or [ʃaˈkiɾa],Portuguese: [ʃaˈkiɾə]) is a Colombian[4]-Lebanese[citation needed] singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, dancer and philanthropist who emerged as a musical prodigy in the music scene of Latin America in the early 1990s. Born and raised in Barranquilla, Colombia, Shakira revealed many of her talents in school as a live performer, demonstrating her vocal ability with rock and roll, Latin and Middle Eastern influences with her own original twist on belly dancing. Shakira is a native Spanish speaker and also speaks fluent English, Portuguese and Italian.
After a series of commercial flops with local producers on her first two albums and little-known outside Colombia, Shakira decided to produce her own brand of music: in 1995 she released Pies Descalzos, which brought her great fame in Latin America and Spain and marked Shakira as a musical phenomenon. But 1998's ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones? remains most essential album of the artist that gained her highest critical success from influential issues such as Rolling Stone, All Music Guide and Billboard. Since then she has gained many fans in non-Spanish-speaking countries, especially in the United States. In 2001, and aided by heavy promotion of the music video, "Whenever, Wherever", she broke through into the English-speaking world with the release of Laundry Service, which sold over thirteen million copies worldwide.Four years later, Shakira released two album projects called Fijación Oral Vol. 1 and Oral Fixation Vol. 2. Both reinforced her success, particularly with the most successful song in the twenty-first century to date, "Hips Don't Lie".Currently, Shakira is working on final touches of her upcoming eighth studio album that will be released in late 2009.
The mere act of surviving on a day to day basis is the foundation from which a true artist builds his craft. Multi-talented newcomer AKON is no exception to this rule. His dynamic debut album, TROUBLE, a collection of stirring songs, creatively reflects the ups and downs of the singer/songwriter/producer's life experiences. A crafty blend of soulful hip-hop, TROUBLE is AKON's vibrant first time tour-de-force.
"TROUBLE evolved from the struggles I went through and what I did and am still doing to correct those things," offers AKON, who has had his fair share of adolescent problems with both the legal and school system, as is reflected in his redemption song "Trouble Nobody." "I've got a habit of writing about everything I go through," he explains, "and this album gives a glimpse of where I am now."
To understand where AKON is right now is just half the equation. The other half lies in where he came from: this young artist possesses a unique history. A Senegalese African, AKON moved to the United States when he was seven. His family is headed by legendary percussionist and jazz musician Mor Thiam, whose expertise for playing the Djembe, a traditional African drum, has been touted as "unrivaled." Being brought up in an environment that treasures the true artistic value of musicianship and revels in the mastering of instrumental skill has had a momentous affect on AKON.
Television Himesh Reshammiya was also actively involved in mentoring and judging the popular singing competition on Zee TV's Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge. His group is called "Rock" gharana. His slogan for this show is "Jai Mataji Let's Rock." Himesh was the winning mentor of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007, the winner being Aneek Dhar from Kolkata. Himesh also excelled in Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2009, as Vaishali Made, a female contestant from his "Rock" gharana, won the competition.
Shreya Ghoshal was born March 12, 1984 in Rawatbhata, Rajasthan) is an Indian playback singer. She performed several songs in Bollywood, regional films and also for Indian soaps like Kasturi. Besides Hindi, she has also sung songs in Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu, .
Biography
[edit] Early years Shreya Ghoshal was born in a Bengali brahmin family. She grew up in Rawatbhata, a small town near Kota, Rajasthan. Her father works in Bhabha Atomic Research Center as a nuclear power plant engineer for the Nuclear Power Corporation of India while her mother is a post-graduate literature student.
From the age of four Ghoshal accompanied her mother on the harmonium. Her parents enrolled her for formal
As a child she won the children's special episode of the Sa Re Ga Ma contest on Zee TV. Back then, the show was hosted by now-famous singer Sonu Niigaam. Kalyanji who also judged the competition, convinced her parents to move to Mumbai.She trained with him for 18 months and continued her classical music training with Mukta Bhide in Mumbai.
Kunal Ganjawala Kunal Ganjawala (Hindi & Marathi : कुणाल गांजावाला) is an well-known Indian singer, known primarily for his work as a Hindi playback singer, Marathi and Kannada film industry. His breakthrough hit, Bheegey Hont from the film Murder, won the 2005 Zee Cine Award for Best Playback Singer (male). He has sung four songs in Saawariya, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who is his cousin. He has also participated in Sa Re Ga Ma, an Indian singing talent competition on Zee TV (now Sa Re Ga Ma Pa) back in the days when it was hosted by Sonu Nigam. He was recently himself a judge on Amul Star Voice of India, another singing competition on Star TV, which he judges together with Shreya Ghosal and Pritam
Biography Kunal Ganjawala is a very diverse singer-cum-performer, who started his career from a singing talent show "SaReGaMa" on Zee television and went on to continue his success in coming years with some really good songs.
Kailash Kher (born July 7 1973) is an Indian singer of popular sufi music. He has risen to fame with a series of hits
Early Life and Background He was born in on 7 July 1973 in Mahalka a small village 25 km from Meeut to a father Pt. Mehar singh kher who was also an folk singer and also kailash's teacher in his earlier age.His other influence has been Pt.kumar gandharva. He studied in Jain Inter college Mahalka and he was very famous for his singing art. He grew up listening to his father rendering Indian folk songs all day and started learning classical music from the age of twelve.He was inspired by legendary Pakistani Sufi singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Sonu Nigam or Sonu Niigaam (Punjabi: ਸੋਨੁ ਨਿਗਮ੍; born July 30, 1973 in Faridabad, Haryana, India) is a highly acclaimed Indian playback singr whose songs have been featured in numerous Hindi and Kannada movies. He has also released numerous Indi-pop albums and acted in a few Hindi feature films. He has changed the spelling of his last name from 'Nigam' to 'Niigaam' in accordance with numerology.
Career Early years and playback singing Sonu Nigam began his singing career at the age of three, when he joined his father on stage to sing Mohammad Rafi's "Kya Hua Tera Wada." From then on, Sonu accompanied his father on his singing appearances at weddings and parties. In his teenage years, Nigam participated in several music competitions successfully. He moved to Mumbai with his father to begin his Bollywood singing career at the age of 19. His initial years in Mumbai proved to be a struggle, beginning by singing covers of Mohammad Rafi songs, mainly for a number of "Rafi Ki Yaadein" albums released by T-Series. T-Series promoter Gulshan Kumar played a key role in identifying Sonu's talent and giving him a chance to reach a larger audience. These albums contributed to T-Series for some years although Sonu's singing style was regarded by some as like a "Rafi clone." Nigam's first movie song as a playback singer was in the film Janam (1990), which was never officially released. Sonu also got a break in several radio commercials until he appeared on the popular TV show Sa Re Ga Ma, after which there was no turning back. The format of that show gave him a chance to showcase his singing skills including his later well-known natural charm and audience appeal. Then he sang "Accha Sila Diya" on the album Bewafa Sanam (1995), which established his status as a recognized playback singer. Sonu then started hosting Sa Re Ga Ma, a television singing talent competition, which soon became one of the most popular shows on Indian television. The first episode of "Sa Re Ga Ma" was aired on May 1, 1995. Singing offers poured in thereafter, albeit slowly at first. He rose to fame with the Anu Malik composed song "Sandese Aate Hain," in Border in 1997. Sonu's image as a Rafi clone changed after his rendition of the Nadeem-Shravan composed song "Yeh Dil Deewana" in Pardes in the same year. Since then, he has created a unique style of his own, and has become a role model for emerging vocal talent in India. Over the years, Sonu has become a major force in the Indian music industry. He has provided playback singing for a large number of Hindi movies and won many awards. His rendition of the title song of the film Kal Ho Na Ho has been highly popular and is considered a modern legend of sorts. He is recognised for his versatile voice as well as excellent emotion range. Sonu has sung with clear pronunciations, in many languages besides Hindi, including Bengali, Oriya, Kannada, Punjabi,Taml, Telugu, English, Bhojpui, Urdu, Nepali and Marathi.He remains particularly popular in Southern India for his Kannada songs and has won a few awards in this particular industry. His 2008 playback songs include songs from Yuvvraaj and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. In the latter, he pays tribute to Bollywood actors of the past like Raj Kapoor, Rajesh Khanna, Shammi Kapoor, Dev Anand and Rishi Kapoor. The song is in a Shahrukh Khan film and the music direction is by Salim-Sulaiman.
Muhammad Ovez Sabri, popularly known as Toshi Sabri, is a singer of Rajasthan's Sabri Family. Toshi specializes in many genres ranging from Qawwali to Pop. He is also lead playback singer on Raaz 2 in a song titled "Maahi". And is working on his next project Jashn as a full Music Director.
Toshi Sabri was born in Punjab (4th July) , India but later moved to Jaipur in Rajasthan. Sabri, being from a musical family, started singing at an early age. Sabri's father is a classical Indian musician. Sharib Sabri, his brother, also belongs to the musical field and has participated in a few musical contests as well.
Toshi has often mentioned his struggle after coming to Mumbai since the previous two years before being chosen to feature on Amul Star Voice of India. He left his studies before giving 12th standard exams, and thus he couldn't find a decent job in Mumbai. Wanting to prove himself as a singer and get a big break, he sang at weddings, parties, occasions, restaurants, and even in a bar.
Krishnakumar Kunnath (Malayalam: കൃഷ്ണകുമാര് കുന്നത്ത് Hindi: कृष्णकुमार कुन्नथ) (born August 23, 1970) is an award winning Indian playback singer. He was born to C S Nair and Kanakavalli.[1] He is a prominent singer in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu films.[2] His name is often confused with the similar screen name of a Bollywood actor, Kay Kay Menon.
Born in Thrissur, Kerala, Krishna Kumar was brought up in New Delhi.[3] KK sang 3,500 jingles before Bollywood break. An alumni of Delhi's Mount St. Mary school.[4] He appeared in "Josh of India" song for the support of Indian Cricket Team during Cricket World Cup 1999. Following this, he released an album called Pal the title song of which struck a chord with listeners. Songs titled "Aap ki Dua" and "Yaaron" from the same album were also popular.
KK is assisted by a band that comprise Karl Peters on bass, Kalyan Baruah on lead guitar and harmonica, Kurt Peters on drums and Rinku Rajput on keyboards.
Allah Rakha Rahman (Tamil: ஏ.ஆர்.ரகுமான்; born January 6, 1966 as A. S. Dileep Kumar (திலீப் குமார்) in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India) is an Indian film composer, record producer, musician and singer. His film scoring career began in the early 1990s. He has won thirteen Filmfare Awards, four National Film Awards, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe and two Academy Awards.[1]
Working in India's various film industries, international cinema and theatre, by 2003, Rahman, in a career spanning over a decade, has sold more than 100 million records of his film scores and soundtracks worldwide,[2] and sold over 200 million cassettes,[3] making him one of the world's all-time top selling recording artists.
Time magazine has referred to him as the "Mozart of Madras" and several Tamil commentators have coined him the nickname Isai Puyal (Tamil: இசைப் புயல்; English: Music Storm).[4] In 2009, the magazine placed Rahman in the Time 100 list of 'World's Most Influential People'
Early life and influences A. R. Rahman was born in a musically affluent Tamil family. His father R. K. Shekhar, was a Chennai based composer and conductor for Malayalam films. Rahman lost his father at a young age and his family rented out musical equipment as a source of income. He was raised by his mother Kareema (Kashturi). During these formative years, Rahman served as a keyboard player and an arranger in bands such as "Roots", with childhood friend and percussionist Sivamani, John Anthony, Suresh Peters, JoJo and Raja.[6] Rahman is the founder of the Chennai-based rock group, "Nemesis Avenue".[7] He played the keyboard and piano, the synthesizer, the harmonium and the guitar. His curiosity in the synthesizer, in particular increased because, he says, it was the “ideal combination of music and technology".[8] He began early training in music under Master Dhanraj. At the age of 11, he joined, as a keyboardist, the troupe of Ilaiyaraaja,[8] one of many composers to whom musical instruments belonging to Rahman's father were rented. Rahman later played in the orchestra of M. S. Viswanathan and Ramesh Naidu, accompanied Zakir Hussain, Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan and L. Shankar on world tours and obtained a scholarship to the Trinity College of Music where he graduated with a degree in Western classical music.
Career
Film scoring and soundtracks In 1992, Rahman began his own music recording and mixing studio attached to the backyard of his house called the Panchathan Record Inn, which was developed into India's most advanced recording studio.[10] He initially composed music jingles for advertisements, Indian Television channels and music scores in documentaries, among other projects. In 1992, he was approached by film director Mani Ratnam to compose the score and soundtrack for Ratnam's Tamil film Roja.[10] The debut led Rahman to receive the Rajat Kamal award for Best Music Director at the National Film Awards, the first time ever by a first-time film composer. Rahman has since then gone on to win the award three more times (for his scores for Minsaara Kanavu (Electric Dreams, Tamil) in 1997, Lagaan (Tax, Hindi) in 2002, Kannathil Muthamittal (A Peck on the Cheek, Tamil) in 2003, the most ever by any composer.[11]
Roja's score met with high sales and acclaim, in its original and dubbed versions, bringing about a marked change in film music at the time, and Rahman followed this with successful scores for Tamil–language films of the Chennai film industry including Ratnam's politically charged Bombay, the urbanite Kadhalan, Bharathiraaja's Karuththamma, the saxophonic Duet, Indira, and the romantic comedies Mr. Romeo and Love Birds, which gained him considerable notice.[12][13] His fanbase in Japan increased with Muthu 's success there.[14] His soundtracks gained him recognition in the Tamil Nadu film industry and across the world for his stylistic versatality in his pieces including in Western classical, Carnatic, Tamil traditional/folk, jazz, reggae and rock music.[15][16][17] The Bombay Theme—from Ratnam's Bombay—would later reappear in Deepa Mehta's Fire and various compilations and media. Rangeela, directed by Ram Gopal Varma, marked Rahman's debut for Hindi-language films made in the Mumbai film industry. Many successful scores for films including Dil Se and the percussive Taal followed.[18][19] Sufi mysticism would form the basis of Chaiyya Chaiyya from the former and the composition "Zikr" from his score of the film Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero for which he created large orchestral and choral arrangements.[6] Musical cues in scores for Sangamam and Iruvar employed Carnatic vocals and instruments such as the veena with leads of rock guitar and jazz.[20] In the 2000s Rahman created hit scores for Rajiv Menon's Kandukondain Kandukondain, Alaipayuthey, Ashutosh Gowariker's Swades and Rang De Basanti.[21] He composed songs with Hindustani motifs for Water (2005).
Rahman has worked with Indian poets and lyricists such as Javed Akhtar, Gulzar, Mehboob, Vairamuthu and Vaali. His collaborations with some film directors have always resulted in successful soundtracks, particularly with the director Mani Ratnam who he has worked with since Roja, all of which have been hits, and the director S. Shankar in the films Gentleman, Kadhalan, Indian, Jeans, Mudhalvan, Nayak, Boys and Sivaji.[22]
Rahman attached and opened a developed extension studio to his Panchathan Record Inn in 2005 called AM Studios in Kodambakkam, Chennai — considered to be the most developed, equipped and high tech studio in Asia.[23][24] In 2006, Rahman launched his own music label, KM Music.[25] Its first release was his score to the film Sillunu Oru Kaadhal. Rahman scored the Mandarin language picture Warriors of Heaven and Earth in 2003 after researching and utilizing Chinese and Japanese classical music, and co-scored the Shekhar Kapoor helmed Elizabeth: The Golden Age in 2007. His compositions have been reused in scores within India[26] and have made appearances in Inside Man, Lord of War, Divine Intervention and The Accidental Husband. In 2008, he scored the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack, for which he won a Golden Globe and two Academy Awards, becoming the first Indian citizen to do so.
Personal life Shaan was born into a Bengali family on 30 September 1972. He is the son of the late music director Manas Mukherjee and brother of singer Sagarika.He is married to Radhika and has two sons, Soham and Shubh. He is the grandson of Jahar Mukherjee.
Career As a child, Shaan began his career by singing ad jingles. After giving it up for a brief period, he soon returned to it, and also began to sing remixes and cover versions. In the 1989 movie Parinda, when he was only 15 years of age, Shaan sang a single line in the song, "Kitni Hai Pyari Pyari Dosti Hamari".
His career began in 1995 with his first release, the remix album called Q-funk. In 2000 he won the MTV Asia Music Award for best solo album for his album Tanha Dil. Three years later Shaan launched his album Aksar which was again hugely successful. The album contained songs featuring international stars such as Blue, Mel C and Samira Said. For both the albums Tanha Dil and Aksar, Shaan displayed his great sang, composed and wrote the lyrics of his songs. He plans to release an album remaking his father's compositions with his sister.
Apart from his albums, Shaan has sung playback vocals for various Bollywood films, including Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi, Bas Itna Sa Khwab Hai, Jhankaar Beats, Lakshya, Dil Chahta Hai, Kal Ho Na Ho, Hum Tum, Dhoom, Dus, Salaam Namaste, Fight Club, Don - The Chase Begins Again, Fanaa, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, and Om Shanti Om. He hosted the television show, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa on Zee TV, which won the Music Programme of the Year award at the Indian Telly Awards in 2003. In 2007, he left the host job and then was replaced by 21 year-old Aditya Narayan. At the same awards function, Shaan won Best TV Music Director, for creating the music of the Zee TV show, Lipstick, for friend, Goldie Behl.
He also appeared as the guest in the first episode of the new show Antakshari: The Great Challenge which aired on 9 February 2007 on Star One.
Shaan is now the host of a music show called Star Voice of India (SVOI) which airs on Star Plus. He was offered to host Star Voice Of India Chote Ustaad, but opted out to spend time with his family. However, he returned to host the next season of Star Voice of India.
Popular songs by Shaan include his first hit, "Musu Musu", as well as "Tanha Dil" and "Bhool Ja" from his albums and the very popular songs "Chand Sifarish" from the movie Fanaa and "Jab se tere naina" from the movie Saawariya. Recently he released a song with MLTR, "Take me to your heart". The song appears on his album Tishnagi.
Shaan sang the title song for the comedy show Khichdi which airs on Star Plus. He also sang the title song for Shakuntala which airs on Star One.
Along with singing, Shaan has also acted in the movie, Daman, also starring Raveena Tandon. He has made appearances in his songs in the movies, Zameen and Hungama.
Shaan often performs for Pro Shows which are conducted as a part of the cultural festivals of various colleges. Among the prominent cult festivals where he has performed live recently are Spring Fest of IIT Kharagpur, Mood Indigo of IIT Bombay, Raagam of NIT Calicut and in Alcheringa of IIT Guwahati. Recently he performed live in an IBM event "Imprint 2008, Bangalore" for IBM GBS GD exclusiv
His song "Chand Sifarish" from the movie Fanaa (2006) and "Jab se Tere Naina" from Saawariya won the Filmfare Best Male Playback Award and the Zee Cine Award Best Playback Singer - Male apart from receiving several other nominations.
He said in an interview that he is no longer interested in playback singing because auto tuning software ensures that actors sound perfect.
Shaan has also been a judge on many talent hunt shows
“I cannot forget the day I earned my first reward for my singing. It was a small amount of Rs.20 but it was priceless.” - Abhijeet Bhattacharya
The popular celebrities swaying at their fans on the raised platform, portray a life of no hardships. However, when they just started their journey on the road to stardom the curved happy lips were doomed to nothing but, despair and a hunt to success amidst darkness Such was the life of the most loved Indian singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya. Unfold his life story to know him more.
Early Life- Was just like a rose struggling to bloom amid the thorns Abhijeet Bhattacharya was born to a middle class Bengali family in Kanpur. As a child, the youngest of the four siblings had dreams that differed the normal lifestyle of the family. He dreamt to be the greatest playback singer of Bollywood film industry. His parents opposed the whole idea. However the challenging youngster stormed to make his mark.
After his regular schooling and college he came to Mumbai in 1981 to study Chartered Accountancy, but left it halfway for his true passion. Despite being gifted with a melodious voice, he struggled for a long time. Due to economic constraints Abhijeet resided in tiny houses and even packed his bags back to Kanpur several times. However he returned as he was attracted by the strong magnetism of the glamor world.
Mustafa Zahid (Urdu:????? ????) is a Pakistani Rock artiste who has enjoyed a lot of success since bursting into the public eye in 2006 with his hit single "Tera Mera Rishta". Mustafa is also the band leader and the lead vocalist of Roxen, an all out rock band which he formed with some of his friends in 2004. Apart from his awe inspiring voice, Mustafa's style and personality contribute to his success as well. Born in Lahore, Mustafa had his interest in music ever since he was a little boy. He was noted first for his amazing stage-like performances and not his voice. At first, it was thought that he would be related to showbiz as an actor.
Early life Born on December 18th 1984 in Lahore, Musfata was an outgoing boy from an early age. He started his studies at the Crescent Model School, Lahore and did his matriculation from there. He chose his line of education to be science. He noted that he was encouraged by his parents and teachers to pursue a career in music because he was a good debater. He then enrolled in the Government College University and completed his F.Sc in Pre-Engineering from there. He said that it had been an honour to have studied at an institution which is considered to be one the best in the world. He used to take part in inter-collegiate and inter-city singing competitions and was said to "make the crowd go wild" with his performances. After that he went to Punjab College of Business Administration for graduation.
Underground After graduating Mustafa and his friends decided to form the band roxen. Their first video, Yaadien in 2005 went unnoticed by the fans and music lovers and they were dubbed as "Just Another Jal wannabe-band". Their second video, Sapnay shot to the top spot of music charts all across Pakistan in just 2 weeks and stayed there for 5 more weeks. Even though this new hit gave them (roxen) a new identity as a mainstream rock band but they emphasized in interviews and blogs that they were still in the underground scene and would continue to be until their album was out. Mujhko Satao was roxen's big break into the industry and the song made new internet records for 65000+ downloads. The song beat the likes of Ali Zafar and even the red-hot Atif Aslam on all music charts across the country
Roxen Roxen is the band that Mustafa formed with his friends in 2004. The word Rozen is derived from the Persian word Rozen e dewaar, which is also the name of his band's first album. Their style is a blend of sufi rock, acoustic and pop. The current band members are Mustafa, Jodi, Omar and Haider. Their debut album titled Roxen-E-Dewaar was released in late 2007 and remained on top of all charts in Pakistan for almost six weeks. The Indian release of the album was scheduled in mid december 2008, but was put on hold by Indian authorities after the recent Mumbai Attacks
Adnan Sami Khan (Urdu: عدنان سمیع خان; born 15 August 1963), popularly known simply as Adnan Sami, is a British born singer, musician pianist, actor and composer of Pakistani origin from Canada. His style merges Asian and Western styles and instrumentation and ranges from classical to jazz to
Biography
Early life and education Sami was born, reared and educated in London, United Kingdom. His father, Arshad Sami Khan was a decorated fighter pilot and war hero of the Pakistan Air Force, and a proud alumnus of PAF College Sargodh.A Pathan who was born in Pakistan[citation needed] and lived in India[citation needed], was a Pakistani diplomat and had training in composing classical and jazz music. His mother belonged to an Indian Muslim family. Sami attended Rugby School He went on to graduate from King's College[citation needed] and became the first person to play Indian/Pakistani classical music on the electric piano. He had played the piano since the age of five.Sami began taking lessons from Pandit Shivkumar Sharma when visiting India during his school vacations.Indian singing legend Asha Bhosle spotted talent in a ten-year-old Sami at an R D Burman concert in London, and encouraged him to take up music as a career. As a teenager, Sami, when performing on the keyboard at a programme in Stockholm, was noticed by Keyboard Magazine as being the fastest man on keyboard. Sami then went on to learn Indian classical music from Mahraj Khatak[citation needed], a Pakistani classical singing teacher and dancer. At the age of sixteen, Sami was approached to write a song for famine-hit Ethiopia for which he won a special award from UNICEF.
Career Adnan had begun playing the piano at the age of five and was an accomplished concert pianist having performed in several countries such as Sweden and UAE. He had his first solo album RAAG Time in 1991-92.The song from his lastest album Kisi Din 'Teri Yaad' was the title track'Jab Chandani Barh Kar' of his first album. In 1994, he composed music for a film for the first time. The Pakistani film, in which Adnan was the lead with his wife Zeba and famous Indian playback singer Asha Bhosle did the playback, Sargam, was a blockbuster However, the authorities banned Asha's voice from the soundtrack which disappointed Adnan. He then had to re-record these songs with Hadiqa Kiyani.After unsuccessfully trying to make it to the competitive Pakistani pop scene in 1997, in 2000, Asha Bhosle teamed up with him to release a collection of love songs named Kabhi to Nazar Milao. The music was also composed by Adnan. According to Adnan, this was a "dream come true" for him.The album became an instant rage and topped the Indipop charts for most of 2001. According to BusinessWeek, the album sold 2 million copies in India. Songs Kabhi to Nazar milao whose music video featured model Aditi Gowitrikar and Lift karaa de whose music video starred the popular Bollywood star Govinda from the album became immensely popular at this time. The videos were shot by Anil Mehra who had shot popular Hindi movies Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Lagaan.Looking at the immense success of this album, Magnasound and Adnan released an album Always yours which is a remix version of numbers from this album. He soon became a "sensation" which led Hindi filmmaker Boney Kapoor to invite him to give music for his film.This was the beginning for him composing and singing songs for Hindi films very successfully of even the top Hindi film producers of the time like Yash Chopra and Subhash Ghai. Due to the immense popularity of his music videos and live performances, he had even begun getting acting offers at this time. The song, Tu sirf mera mehboob, from the Hindi movie Ajnabee (2001) sung by Adnan also "became a rage" and was a superhit. Screen called him the pop personality of the year 2001 and even says that the success of his album Kabhi to Nazar milao "kept the Indian pop music industry alive and breathing" in 2001. In 2002, Pepsi Foods made Adnan its brand ambassador in India, a contract which involved hosting a series of live music concerts across cities as well as Adnan featuring in ads for Pepsi products.According to the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, no Pakistani artist had managed to gain as much popularity in India as Sami had. According to an article in the Indian newspaper The Times of India, Sami was the most successful face in non-film music in India at that time. His second studio album, Tera Chehra, was released in October 2002 to critical eulogies even as his first album was still selling.The music videos for this album were shot by Binod Pradhan who had shot the popular Hindi movie Devdas, directed by Bela Sehgal (director of Devdas Sanjay Leela Bhansali's sister) and featured popular Bollywood stars Rani Mukerji in the title track, Amitabh Bachchan in the track Kabhi nahi who also sang the duet with Adnan and actress Mahima Chaudhry in another song. The title track was written by famous Hindi movie lyricist Sameer.According to Screen, it was the only successful pop album of the year. Saathiya (2002) brought the opportunity to work with maestro A. R. Rahman in the form of Aye Udi Udi which he was looking forward to. According to Screen, the song was the highlight of the album. rediff.com called him the "reigning king of Indipop" in early 2003 based on the sales of his albums in the past two years. His most successful albums have been Kabhi To Nazar Milao (with Asha Bhosle) and Tera Chehra, and his music videos usually have had a host of Bollywood stars in them, including Namrata Shirodkar ("Bheegi Bheegi Raat"), Mahima Chaudhry, Raveena Tandon, Rani Mukerji ("Tera Chehra"), Govinda, Fardeen Khan, Amisha Patel ("O Meri Jaan"), Bhumika Chawla ("Maahiya"), Dia Mirza ("Pal Do Pal") and most famously, Amitabh Bachchan ("Kabhi Nahi").And in 2007 the soundtrack from the hit Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute to Love. Since 2003, he has sung for a few Tamil movies like Boys, Aayutha Ezhuthu composed by A.R. Rehman. The songs,"Boom Boom" from Boys and "Nenjamellam Kadhal" for Aayitha Ezhuthu, were hits. He also sang for the Tamil and Telugu versions besides the Hindi version of songs fromthe movie Yuva (2004) whose music was also composed by A. R. Rahman. Besides Rahman, he also worked together with composer Yuvan Shankar Raja, singing hit Tamil songs "Oh Intha Kadhal" from Satham Podathey and the very recently released "Oru Kal" from Siva Manasula Sakthi, which got very popular and widely noticed. He has also sang couple of Kannada film songs. His first Kannada song, "Don't Worry Madabeda" for the film Super Star starring Upendra was a big hit. In 2006, he took a sabbatical, and reportedly lost over 70 kg, to make a comeback in April 2007 with a new album Kisi Din. His latest film music composition was for Shaurya (2008).
Personal life Adnan Sami was married to Zeba Bakhtiar for a short period (2nd marriage,[ separated in (1996/1997) from whom he had a son Azaan Khan. After their separation, Adnan abducted their son and took him to Dubai after the Lahore High Court awarded custody rights to Zeba. In May 1998, Zeba alleged that Pakistani and UAE officials were not co-operating with her in her bid to gain custody of her son from Adnan.She took the custody of Azaan by appealing in a Canadian court. Canadian immigration officials "stormed" Adnan's home, arrested him and "whisked away" his son who was handed over to his mother, Zeba.According to Adnan, this forced him to cancel millions of dollars worth of concerts and other recording obligations.Adnan's father, Arshad Sami Khan, filed a defamation suit against Zeba and her family claiming that during the hearing, he and his family members were defamed. According to Sami, this was when he began to gain weight by using food for comfort and getting more depressed and this became a vicious cycle and by June 2006, he weighed 206 kilos. In 2001, Sami fell in love with and married Dubai-based Sabah Galadari, his third marriage and her second.This relationship also called quits a year-and-a-half later.According to Adnan, Sabah left him because he was obese. He also claimed that they were married for 10 years. Since at least 2001, Sami, who was then based in Dubai, was unsuccessfully attempting to acquire Indian citizenship. In July 2001, he approached the Home Minister of India, Lal Krishna Advani in Dubai and requested for granting of Indian citizenship.After failing to acquire Indian citizenship, he attempted to acquire Canadian citizenship and was successful in getting it. In 2002, Adnan filed an appeal for the custody of his son Azaan in a Pakistani court by claiming that Zeba had obtained the custody of Azaan by "misleading the Canadian court through false and ill-founded allegations against him"Soon after, the two agreed to reconcile and settle the issue out of court after years of legal battles.Adnan agreed to let Zeba have custody but wanted access to Azaan. But it did not work out and in 2004, he sued the Canadian government for 30 million $ in connection with the immigration raid that had ended with his son "being whisked away".According to Sami, he won the case. In 2004, Sami described himself as a huge fan of S D Burman and R D Burman. In 2005, Adnan suffered from lymphoedema and developed an abscess in the knee. He was in intensive care, had to undergo a risky surgery and was in bed for three months.He was linked to Bollywood actress Amisha Patel who featured in one of his music videos and accompanied him on his world tour. But this was denied by both him and Amisha's boyfriend Vikram Bhatt In June 2006, Adnan weighed 206 kilos and according to him, his doctor said he was giving him just six months to live. By diet, exercise and will-power, Adnan lost 107 kgs weight in 9 months.[ In 2008, Adnan's wife Sabah returned to Mumbai, remarried and began staying with Adnan. On 30 January 2009, Adnan's wife Sabah registered a case against Adnan at the Oshiwara police station accusing him of physical and mental torture after they had a violent fight.Adnan was summoned to the police station and warned against misbehaving with his wife in future. According to Adnan, Sabah is making a claim to his flat in Lokhandwala and did not allow his father to return to it. He said he was planning to fight in court with his wife.Adnan also said that his wife was unkind to his son from a previous marriage, Azaan. Sabah has said that their troubles began soon after remarriage and that Adnan was suffering from alcoholism which "increased by the day" and would often indulge in violence against her. According to her, on one occasion, Adnan drank so much alcohol that he fell down in the bathroom and they had to cancel a show in London. She has also said that he abused and apologised to her and it became a pattern and that she loved him "so much".Adnan Sami violated the law of India & purchased 8 flats in Mumbai with out approval from the competent authorities, Naresh Kadyan, Chairman - PFA Haryana asked the Mumbai Police to lodge FIR against Adnan Sami u/s 420, 120-B IPC along with other relevant sections of the law of the land.
Awards and accolades Sami has won many international awards, including the Nigar Award[citation needed], the Bolan Academy Award[citation needed], and the Graduate Award[. He was given a special award by UNICEF for the song he wrote for famine-hit Ethiopia as a teenager and a United Nations Peace Medal for a song he wrote and performed for Africa. A review of his piano solo performance on Channel 4, UK, in Keyboard Magazine acknowledged him as the "Keyboard Discovery of The 90s". In 2001, he was awarded the Breakthrough Artist of the Year by MTV.
He was invited to be a member of the jury of the prestigious music festival Voice of Asia competition, held annually at Almaty, Kazakhstan - the jury comprises top music composers of the world.[citation needed] Sami was featured in a documentary, commissioned by the Foreign and Common Wealth Office of Great Britain, about ten people from the Indian subcontinent, who have influenced the Asian culture in the UK over the last fifty years.Swedish and British radio and television have often referred to him as the fastest keyboard player in the world.Sami has performed for prestigious music festivals to sold-out stadia of his solo concert tours all over the world in over forty countries.In summer 2003, he became the only Asian artist to have sold out, Wembley Stadium,London, for two consecutive nights, which won him a place in the Limca Book of Records. As a classical concert pianist, Sami has had the honour of giving "solo" Royal Command performances before the King of Sweden and King Hussein of Jordan. In 2008, he was presented the Naushad Music Award by Andhra Pradesh Department of Culture, at Hyderabad.
Sajjad Ali (Urdu: سجاد علی. Born 1966) is a Pakistani semi-classical, pop singer, film actor, director and producer. He was one of the pioneers of pop music and emerged to fame in the early 1980s. However, he was already known to some people[who?] as a semi-classical singer due to his work in the classical industry and his family popularity. He is one of very few Pakistani pop singers with full training in classical singing.
Life & Career
Sajjad Ali was born in 1966 in Karachi in a Shia Muslim family. He was born into a cricketer family and showed visible signs of musical talents at a very young age. His father, Shafqat Hussain (Sajan), was an Indian Malayalam movie director before Sajjad was born. In 1972, when Sajjad was in his sixth year, Tasadduq Husain, his uncle, a cricketer and a music lover was overwhelmed by his musical abilities. Due to this, Husain started teaching music to Sajjad with his classical collection. During Sajjad's training, Husain played music from legendary classical artists such as Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Ustaad Barkat Ali Khan and Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan. As time went on Sajjad learnt and familiarized himself with the various styles of music and instruments such as ragas that allowed Sajjad to build his musical talent. Sajjad released his first classical hit album "Master Sajjad sings Memorable Classics in 1979 the musicians were Great Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Sab, Mehdi Hassan Khan Sahab and Ghulam Ali and Amanat Ali Khan Sab, most of the songs were written by Hasrat Mohani, Momin and many more. Sajjad made his debut on the 25th anniversary of PTV's stage show, called Silver Jubilee, on November 26, 1983. During the show, Sajjad sung the song Lagi ray lagay lagan yehe dil mein and Bawari Chakuri. The song was a huge hit in Pakistan and allowed Sajjad to take the first few steps in the music industry. Sajjad great talent went on with major hits such as Babia 93, Chief Saab, Sohni Lag Di, and many more. Sajjad and his brother, Waqar Ali, wrote lyrics for Sajjad's album. Also, lyricists, Sabir Zafar, Mohammad Nasir, Nadeem Asad, and Ali Moin also wrote songs for Sajjad. In the film industry, Sajjad also directed his first movie Love letter in 1989 and then his first full length motion picture Aik Aur love story in 1998. His brother Waqar Ali is also in the music industry. Sajjad Ali sang the song "Teri Yaad, Na Boloon Gi and Sunn Leyna" for drama serials. His brother, Waqar also helped during the making of the songs as is credited too. A.R. Rahman sings his praises and that is no mean feat. He says Sajjad is the original crossover. From the realm of the classical, he metamorphosed into one of the brightest lights of Pakistani pop. Always striking the right note, and never missing a beat, even the most hardened purist has to give Sajjad his due. This man can breathe life in a ghazal even as he puts the V back into verve. He is one of the very few singers in Pakistan who seems a complete singer. As far as skill is concerned I feel nobody compares to Sajjad Ali. He is simply too good at everything he chooses to create. Nowadays, Sajjad Ali is a widely acclaimed Pakistani singer, whose trial and tribulation with singing reflects his own profound belief in the power of music. During July 2006, Sajjad released a brand new single called Chal Rein De in which he has a complete make over and has produced a more classical song rather than a pop version which is more popular for. However, the song has been a smash hit. He has entered hearts of millions of people in Pakistan with his soulfull classical singing. In the September 3, 2006, Sajjad Ali released another little known single in a totally different genre with the help of Meloscience Corp. The song is known as Sajjad-Ali Sinsym Flight, and it is an experimental, jazzy, Sufi beat, different than anything he has ever created. In late April 2008, Sajjad Ali his released latest album, Chahar Balish, which contained new tracks as well as previous tracks such as Chal Rein De.
(Urdu:Hindko حدیقہ کیانی) is a Pakistani Pop Singer. After working on a successful music project with Adnan Sami, Kiani released her successful debut album, Raaz. After a musical ban imposed on her from the government, Kiani successfully returned to the music scene with her second album, Roshni, which remains her best selling album to date and helped establish her icon as the country's leading female vocalist. Kiani followed up Roshni with a more mature album, Rung. In 2007, she became the first Pakistani mainstream artist to release a complete English album, Rough Cut.
Kiani is also set to be a judge on a Pakistani version of American Idol, and has released her fifth album, Aasmaan in June 2009.
Early life
Kiani was born on August 17. She is the youngest of 3 siblings, her older brother and sister who. Her father died when she was 3 years old. Kiani recalls the experience of losing her father on an interview show called Heart to Heart on ARY. She said it was very difficult for a few years for her family as issues had risen after her father's death, but she also said her mother was very brave throughout their upbringing. Her mother Khawar was a principle of a government all girl school while Kiani and her older siblings were growing up right after her father's death the family had to move into the school. Kiani and both her brother and sister had a knack for music, and as such her mother and school enlisted her in the Pakistan National Council of the Arts. Kiani then performed in front of a crowd of a thousand people, at Liaqat Memorial Hall Pindi. She went on to study at Viqar-un-Nisa Noon Girls High School Pindi. She represented Pakistan in International children festivals in Turkey, Jordan, Bulgaria, and Greece, winning various medals along the way. She also used to be on Sohail Rana's "Rang Barangi Dunya"; a weekly musical.
Adolescence
As an eighth grader Kiani moved from birth place Rawalpindi to Lahore. She was then enrolled Naya Aligar Public School. She then went on to Kinnaird and Govt. College, due to her excellent academic performance and earned a masters in Psychology. shw is married and have 1 adopted son .
Television and film Kiani came onto TV to host a children music program from PTV called Angan Angan Taray. In the three and a half year long run, she had sung over a thousand songs for children.She also appeared as a VJ for various musical shows. Kiani appeared as a playback singer for a musical movie called Sargam in 1994. The same year, she received awards for her playback singing.
Raaz
Kiani released her debut album Raaz (Secret) in 1995. Kiani wrote the lyrics to her first single, "Jeevan" (Life). The album spawned a string of radio friendly tunes and generally had favorable reviews. One reason Kiani's album did well was because it was not common for female singers to release albums at the time. Also, she was the first female singer to release a pop album after a former pop singer, Nazia Hassan, gave up her musical career in 1993. Kiani's ability to sing in various dialects also helped the album gain momentum. She was however labeled as a "Nazia imitator", mostly due to the fact Nazia was the only female singer her before her to introduce pop music in the country. Still, Raaz performed well. The album's success was highlighted by it being mentioned in an article which showed the major events in Pakistan's music history. The article stated "Hadiqa Kiani successfully releases debut album Raaz".She also won "NTM Viewer's choice award" for the best female Singer of Pakistan in 1995. In 1996, Kiani's debut had sold over 700,000 thousand copies, a very impressive figure for Pakistan. This milestone came when piracy in Pakistan hit an all time high (and still persists, Pakistan is ranked in one of the top 3 leading countries of Piracy, alongside Malaysia and China), causing all international labels to leave the country in 1994 itself. She kept on releasing singles from the album, all of which were received well. These included "Yaad", "Tu Agar Mil Jaata", "Jaan E Jan", and "Manne Di Mauj". Her increasing popularity was further highlighted in 1997 when Kiani became the first Asian singer ever to perform on the British National Lottery Live BBC1 (estimated viewership 16.6 million). Afterwards she worked on two more shows with Bally Sagoo for BBC 2 and ITV before moving to perform in the U.S. Her U.S. tour covered 15 states and a show in Canada too. The same year Kiani performed on several other international events such as "Celebration Hong Kong 97", alongside other singers like Lisa Stansfield, Wet Wet Wet, Michael Learns to Rock, All 4 One and The Brand New Heavies. By the end of the year she became the first Asian female singer ever to be signed by Pepsi Cola International. She is also the second female in the world to achieve this, with the first being Gloria Estefan.
Roshni
In 1998 Kiani began working on her second music album, Roshni (Light). The album was dedicated to her nephew Sonu, the son of her older sister, Kiani took care of her nephew and has considered him as a significant person in her life. The first single off the album, "Tu Nawa Tu Sada" was released before the album was released. Kiani then released a second single, "Inteha-e-Shauq". The song was the official song found for the Pakistani Cricket team for the Cricket World Cup that year. Both songs being patriotic gained favorable reviews, however "Inteha-e-Shauq" was a much better success for Kiani. On November 1, 1998 Kiani released Roshni. Initial album sales were powered mostly by "Inteha-e-Shauq", which made the final listing of the album along with "Tu Nawa Tu Sada". Hadiqa's third single off the album, "Dupatta" was an instant success. Its video was inspired by the sci-fi film The Matrix, and was the highest budgeting video in Pakistan in the year 1999. "Dupatta" also gained more popularity than any single Kiani had released before from her debut single. To date it is considered one of Kiani's greatest songs ever. The song is also listed in the Twenty Best Pop Songs Ever for Pakistan, where it is positioned at #15.The success of the song was attributed to its quasi-bhangra rhythm with fat, funky techno beats, and Hadiqa’s "dreamy-meets-husky- vocals", which made the results "stunning."In wake of Dupatta's success, Kiani soon went on the be widely accepted as the country's leading female vocalist.Capitalizing on "Dupatta's" success, Kiani went on to release two other moderate hits, "Roshni", and "Woh Kaun Hai". She then delivered once again by releasing a sixth single off the album, "Boohey Barian" which went on to become an even bigger hit for her than "Dupatta". To date, "Boohey Barian" is widely accepted as Kiani's best single ever. However, the song was copied from Punjabi singer Hans Raj Hans' hit single, "Panj Baariyan".[citation needed] Kiani's massive success in 1999 was highlighted when she won PTV World viewer's choice award for the best female singer in 2000.She also released a seventh single off the album, "Intezaar". Roshni sold over a million copies in Pakistan alone, an extremely impressive figure for a poor country which is still largely male dominant and has an extremely high rate of piracy in the world. Kiani's image also became a signature look in cities like Karachi. These included long coat-like sherwanis and snake printed trousers and Nabila's chic cuts and color. This style by Kiani was a standard to many women who looked up to her in Pakistani cities like Karachi and Defense Lahore. It is widely known as Kiani's best album to date. The album is listed in "The 20 Best Local Pop Albums Ever" for the country, positioned at #15.In the entire list, Hadiqa is just one of two female singers listed, with the other being Nazia Hassan. The review stated This is the album with which Hadiqa finally overcame her reputation of being a folksy Nazia Hassan imitator. Glided across various different genres in a single album, from millennium techno, to crisp FM-pop and the usual folk-pop thing. The brilliant production remains to be the highlight here. In another list called "The 10 Best Local Pop Albums...ever" Roshni was placed at number 9.The review also highlighted Hadiqa's status rise by stating However, on the excellent and crisply produced "Roshni", not only did Hadiqa manage to ultimately become the next Nazia, but the way she so effortlessly glided through the many distinct genres she explores on "Roshni" (from Neo-Filmi-Pop to FM-Pop to Techno), elevated her status to being one of the post-modern Indo-Pak pop scene's leading "pop diva" Kiani's success got her signed by "Uni Lever" for celebrity endorsement of Lipton Yellow Label in 2001. In 2002, she was signed again by "Uni Lever" for Sunsilk Shampoo. Throughout 2001 and 2002, she performed live concerts in USA , Canada , U.K, Middle East, Far East, Australia, Norway, Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey on multiple occasions.
Rung
Hadiqa Kiani released her third album Rung (Colors) in September 2002, for which she'd chosen the album title herself. Prior to Rung's release, Kiani sang an OST for a drama called Cheray. The song also made the final listing on Rung. The first single released from Rung was "Yaad Sajan". The song helped the album sales propel throughout September and August 2002 and was an instant hit. It didn't however make it as big as "Dupatta" or "Boohey Barian", but generally got great appreciation. Where Kiani released multiple videos for her previous albums within months after the album release, she didn't do so with Rung because of a personal crisis in her life. Her marriage was seeing problems. Issues with her marriage saw her being removed from the spotlight for the rest of 2002, and early 2003. Rung's sales slowly declined since no other single had been released. Her divorce was finalized in March 2003. She decided to take a few months off from her music career then. As a result, Rung's sales seemed stalled. She returned to promote the album in June 2003, almost 10 months after she'd released "Yaad Sajan" with a new single "Ranjhan" and several stage performances and tours around the country. She then released other singles off the album throughout 2003 and 2004. These included "Jogi Bun Kay Aa", "Mahi", and "Dholan". Her newer singles saw her videos seeing a drastic improvement in standard and concept. In "Jogi Bun Kay Aa" Kiani plays various roles of women, including a traditional Japanese, an Arab, and a tribal woman. She played the role of a vampire in her video for "Mahi". The video was also sending the message to not judge people of different faiths and casts, and to not stereotype. It was the highest budgeting video of the year 2003. Despite the setback from her divorce, Kiani's album sales picked up through 2003 and 2004. In 2004, she received the Best Female Pop Singer Award by Indus Music, the first 24 hour music channel of Pakistan.Dr.Asim Raza won an award for best video for directing her video Mahi. Rung got mixed reviews from experts. Overall it didn't capitalize on the momentum she generated by Roshni. Many argue that this is due to the fact that Rung has more mature slow paced ballads than Roshni, while some say the turmoils of her personal life, along with the increase of piracy in the country caused its sales to decline. Album official sales tally have not been mentioned anywhere. However Kiani still remained a strong figure in the industry, despite the setback. Her name was mentioned in a list called "Pakistani Pop's 10 most Influential Acts Ever", where she positioned at number 9. She is also one of just 2 female singers in the list, with the other being Nazia Hassan.A UK based Magazine declared Hadiqa as the 22nd greatest music maker of South Asia out of Top 50, also mentioning on how she raised the standard of music videos in the country.
2005-2006 worldwide performances Kiani didn't release any single to promote Rung sales in 2005 and 2006. However, she continued to build on her success by touring heavily these years. Most of the time she was the official representative of Pakistan appointed by the government. On August 11, 2005, Kiani performed in Nagoya for the Prime Minister of Japan Mr.Junichiro Koizumi. Kiani was invited to perform in Toronto on 14 Aug, 2005 by The Pakistani Consulate. She performed in Houston on 13th August 2005. The show was at Sam Houston Race Park, and it was attended by over 15000 people. Chief guest of the show was Sheila Jackson Lee who is a member of the US House of Representatives. Kiani was asked to take out the lucky draws of PIA and she announced the names of the lucky winners.She then performed at the "Mets" in "Shea Stadium" New York on August 18, 2005. She also performed at the Pakistan Day Parade in New York on August 28, 2005. She performed in Malaysia on the 2nd October 2005 at the newly built Convention Centre in Kualalampur downtown. The Honorary Prime Minister of Pakistan Mr.Shaukat Aziz was the chief guest of the show. The show was part of Expo 2005 in Malaysia. Important business and political personalities from both countries attended the show. She sang a Malay song, not a Pakistani song. Kiani represented Pakistan on the 25th Anniversary of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA) in Turkey. Islamic Countries such as Azerbaijan, U.A.E, Iran, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Kuwait, Lebanon, Egypt, Sudan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Turkey, Pakistan and Yemen took part in the celebrations. The event was organized by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. She performed at the AKM concert Hall on 23 November 2005. Among the audience were musicians from various countries. The biggest surprise for the audience was when Hadiqa sang "Sanalama" (Turkish song of Living Legend "Sezanaksu"). Hadiqa told the audience that as Turkey stood beside Pakistan in good and bad times, she wanted to convey the love of Pakistani people for the Turks. She also told that she visited Turkey as a child star in 80s and represented Pakistan in the International Children's Festival in Turkey so had beautiful childhood memories associated with Turkey. The audience gave her a standing ovation. At the end of her performance, The Mayor of Istanbul presented a bouquet of flowers to her. After her performance she received invitations for Pakistan to participate in the upcoming Art festivals in various countries such as Iran, Syria, Qatar and Lebanon.During her stay in Istanbul she officially visited various historical sites in Turkey and conveyed the love of Pakistan for Turkey. Her performance in Istanbul was important news in various Turkish News papers. Kiani performed in China for the Chinese 2nd Premier on 21st Feb, 2006. She performed for President George W.Bush on 4 March, 2006. Commenting on her performance, Bush said he liked her accent and wanted her to perform in USA. She performed for the Crown Prince of Brunei Al-Muhtadee Billah Bolkiah on 29 May, 2006. Kiani performed for Mrs.Laura Bush on September 21, 2006 at The Kennedy Convention Centre, Washington DC. She closed the year by performing for HRH Prince Charles on October 30, 2006, and the Chinese President on November 23, 2006.
2005-2006 music contributions Though Kiani couldn't release music and didn't promote sales for Rung due to her touring in these years, she still remained a strong figure in the industry due to her contributions and experiments. She also won an Indus Music Award for the Best Female singer for the second time in 2005. Throughout 2005, Kiani did not release any video to promote Rung. She did however sing in various collaborations with other male singers. She sang the OST for a drama on HUM TV called "Aas Paas" with singer Atif Aslam. She sang 2 more OST's for the same channel, one being "Ko Lamha Gulab Sa" with Ahmed Jehanzeb, and another solo OST for a drama called "Tum Meray Ho". She also was featured in Najam Sheraz's single "In Say Nain" alongside many other featured artists. She was the only female artist in that song. She also performed for a special show on ARY`s The Musik called "Re-Mastered", where she sang her songs and covered popular band Fuzon's song Teray Bina. In the same show, Fuzon covered her song Boohey Barian, and asked her to sing with them on their closing number, Aankhon Ke Sagar. Kiani also performed for Geo TV in May 2005 for their show called "Geo Applause". The show was held at Sailing Club Karachi, and it was attended by large number of important personalities of the pop industry. Hadiqa sang songs that were mostly slow in tempo. Hadiqa told the audience in the beginning of the show that she would sing songs that she personally liked and those might not be people's choice. It was also her return to hosting a show after over a decade. In the show, she gave a tribute to The Carpenters by singing their song I Need to Be in Love. According to the producer of the show (Nadeem J), it was the best "applause" ever recorded for Geo. In January 2006, Kiani released a single, "Iss Bar Milo". Although the song was off her album Rung, it was used instead to promote a recently formed duo between her and Aamir Zaki. They both had planned to release an English album soon. The song became a huge success, and its video continue to build on the trend of videos Hadiqa had released. In the video Kiani plays a schizophrenic patient at a mental institution for women. Reviews for the rock song were extremely favorable, with people appreciating her acting and her decision to sing different genres. Kiani had released another video in 2006. She was featured on UK based producer Khiza's album Loyal To The Game. The album's lead single, "Mehr Ma" featured Hadiqa. The song was a massive success in Pakistan, and was seen as a great return for Hadiqa after her ballads in Rung. This was highlighted by the fact that Khiza's same album in Pakistan was titled Mehr Ma and not Loyal to the Game. Also, the album cover in Pakistan only has Kiani on it, not Khiza. In the video, Kiani is seen with different hairstyles and outfits. Kiani also cut her hair short and dyed it red for the video. Its reviews have been extremely favorable. One source says "'Mehr Ma', which starts off the album is easily the best track on it. With Kiani showcasing her top-notch vocals and the music, which remains hip-hopish yet very desi, thanks to the usage of sitar, tabla makes it an excellent number."Hadiqa also performed the song at the 2006 Lux Style Awards, and was called the best performer of the night in reviews.To date, Mehr Ma has the second highest hits of all of Hadiqa's videos on Youtube, only trailing Boohey Barian.
Adoption In late October, 2005, Kiani became the first person to adopt a baby from the earthquake. She has named the baby boy "Naad-e-Ali" (though she spells his name Naaday Ali) and officially announced her adoption decision on Geo TV the same night she adopted him on a live show. She then proceeded to announce it in an official press release. There have been some conflicting opinions with Kiani adopting a baby. Some people argued as to why she was allowed to adopt when there were laws passed against adoption to prevent human trafficking. This however wasn't a strong basis of argument, others said, since the baby was given to her, and it was not she who applied for him. Hadiqa has applied for official adoption of the baby ever since the law against adoption were released. Since the adoption she has married again. She claims the reason to be "wanting to give [her son] Naad-e-Ali the love of a father".
Tamgha-e-Imtiaz On March 23, 2006, Kiani was awarded the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz by the Government of Pakistan, one of the highest civil awards of the country, for acknowledging her services of in the field of music and bringing good name to the country for over a decade. The award was announced on August 14, 2005, but the ceremony was on March 23 the next year.
Yeh Hum Naheen
In March 2007, Kiani was one of the many artists that were featured in a widely popular track called "Yeh Hum Naheen". In this song, various Pakistani artists joined to send out a message that people should stop blaming Muslims for the innocent killings of other Muslims. The song also sends out a anti-terrorism message. Other artists in the song are Haroon, Ali Haider, Ali Zafar, Shafqat Amanat Ali, Strings, and Shuja Haider.The song has been picked up by international stations like Fox News and BBC, and has received over 70,000 downloads.
Rough Cut
In 2007 Hadiqa Kiani released her fourth studio album, Rough Cut, a collaboration with Aamir Zaki. The album had seen frequent delays in its release due to Kiani's busy schedule in 2005 and 2006, and due to the fact that Amir Zaki had moved to Canada while the album was being recorded. With the release of Rough Cut, Kiani became the first Pakistani (Main Stream) artist to release a complete English Album.It is also her only album which her website officially put up for sale online. In April 2007, Kiani released the first single for the album, titled "Living This Lie", a song which talks about the stressful life of being a star. The same week, Kiani was named "Hotstepper of the week" for a Karachi based magazine. The magazine also stated that Ultimately, as long as Hadiqa is around, there is still hope for women in the patriarchal music world of Pakistan. Kiani's second single that was released from the album is titled "All The Same". Rough Cut failed to impress at the charts, and didn't sell as much as Kiani's older works. Many experts said that since an overwhelming majority of people in the country do not understand English, the album didn't sell as much. It is not confirmed whether Kiani will release a third single from the album. However, there are rumors that the track "City of Fallen Angels" will get a video release, where Karachi will be the city referred to in the song. The single "Living This Lie" got nominated for "Best English Song" for "The Musik Awards" in 2007. However, due to the emergency situations in the country in 2007, the awards were called off. Hadiqa also got nominated for Best Female Singer in the same awards.
Rough Cut
In August, 2007, Kiani was one of the performers for the Londay Day Parade at Trafalgar Square, London which was broad casted by Geo TV to celebrate 60 years of Independence for the country. Hadiqa was the only singer who sang completely live that day. She was also part of closing the show with the popular patriotic song "Jeevay Pakistan" alongside Ali Zafar. She also released an Urdu single titled "Zindagi" which is a rock themed song about the life (Zindagi) of Pakistani children. The song was released after a few weeks after the London Day Parade, and is also her latest video. She also stated in an interview that she plans to release an Urdu album and concentrate on its production shortly after Rough Cut's release, and that she's already done with 4 tracks for it.However it is not clear if Zindagi will be a track on that album. Kiani did not perform much internationally as she did in years before, and even toured around Pakistan less frequently towards the end of the year 2007 (primarily due to the state of emergency and the turmoils the country went through). However earlier in 2007 (May 19) Hadiqa performed at Dead Sea Marriott Jordan at the World Economic Conference. Hadiqa’s performance was on the 2nd day of the 3 day event, while American singer Lionel Richie performed on the 1st Day at the same venue. During her performance Hadiqa performed an Arabic song “Aa We Nos” (originally sung by Nancy Ajram). Jordanian performers performed with Hadiqa during that song.
Pakistan Idol
Hadiqa Kiani will appear as a judge on an upcoming TV show on Geo TV called Pakistan Idol. The show itself has seen airing date delays due to the emergency in the country in Winter 2007. However the TV channel plans to release it soon. Hadiqa will also do an interview regarding Pakistan Idol soon.However it hasn't been announced when the interview will happen. As of August 1, 2008, Geo TV announced that the show and its auditions are put on hold until further notice.
2008-2009
Kiani has been relatively inactive so far in 2008, performing only at a few non televised concerts. The reason for her sudden absence is claimed to be her mother's paralysis in 2006 since then Hadiqa has been taking care of her mother. More information on the matter has not been disclosed. Despite her absence Kiani recently performed at a cricket match between Pakistan and Bangladesh on April 20, 2008. More information on the performance is yet to be updated. Kiani released a statement on her Facebook and to the press to announce that she's divorced from her second husband, citing a long distance relationship as the main cause of the breakup.
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