Mohammed Rafi; December 24, 1924 � July 31, 1980), was an Indian playback singer whose career spanned four decades. Rafi is regarded as one of the greatest singers in the Hindi film music industry ever. He won several awards including Padma Shri, 5 National Awards and 6 Filmfare awards.
Rafi was a versatile singer of Indian cinema, and was effective in every type of singing including Bhajjans and Qawalis. He sang in many Indian languages including Hindi, Konkani, Urdu, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi, Sindhi, Kannada, Gujarati, Maghi, Mathili and Telugu. He also recorded a few English and Persian songs. He is primarily remembered, however, for his Hindi-Urdu songs.
Early years and background
Mohd. 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 1935-36, 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.
t was his brother-in-law Mohammed Hameed who spotted the talent in Rafi and 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 13, when he was allowed to sing at a concert featuring the legendary K. L. Saigal. In 1941, 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 1944).
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 1941 film Gul Baloch and the Bombay film, Gaon Ki Gauri, the following year, Rafi rose to the upper echelon of Indian music.
Initial days in Bombay
In 1944, 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 (1944). Around the same time, Rafi recorded another song for the 1945 film Gaon ki Gori, “Aji dil ho kaaboo mein”. He considered this song his first Hindi language song. In 1945, Rafi married his cousin Bashira, nicknamed “Majhi”, in his village.
n 1945, 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 (1946). Rafi was first noted for the song “Tera Khilona Toota Balak” from Mehboob Khan’s Anmol Ghadi (1946).
His duet with Noor Jehan in the 1947 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 1948, Rafi sang “Suno Suno Aye Duniya Walon Bapu Ki Ye Amar Kahani”, written by Rajendra Krishan, which became a huge hit.
by 
