Mohammed Rafi

Mohammed Rafi is a renowned Indian playback singer who dominated Bollywood for over three decades where no singer could equal his mighty classical voice or even come closer to him in his voice quality; that was appreciated across the globe. He was at the height of his career when actors like Dilip Kumar Muhammad Yusuf Khan was born on the 11th of Decemb >> Read More... , Dev Anand Dev Anand would be nostalgically remembered by fil >> Read More... , and Raj Kapoor Rajkapoor is a film maker and movie director from >> Read More... ruled the industry. He was the most sought after singer in the film industry as he gave his vocal for actors like Dev Anand, Raj Kumar Actor RajKumar came to limelight as he resembled S >> Read More... , Dilip Kumar, Rajendra Kumar Born on 20 July 1929, Rajendra Kumar is a Bollywoo >> Read More... , Sunil Dutt Sunil Dutt was a great actor, director, producer, >> Read More... , Dharmendra, and Jeetendra. Although he did playback for actors like Pradeep Kumar Pradeep Kumar was an actor who is well known for h >> Read More... , Bharat Bhushan Bharat Bhushan born in Meerut city of Uttar Prades >> Read More... and a comedian like Johnny Walker Johnny Walker is a comedian of Bollywood. His orig >> Read More... or Mehmood, his tonal quality suited even Guru Dutt Born on 9th July 1925, Guru Dutt was an Indian act >> Read More... too. That is why Guru Dutt often repeated Mohammed Rafi in his films.  

Rafi is indeed one of the versatile playback singers that the country has produced so far. No singer even now can draw any parallel to his style of singing; He was equally eased in singing qawwalis, ghazals, romantic, bhajans, patriotic, classical or sad numbers. He has received six Filmfare Awards and one National Film Award. He was honored with Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1967.

Rafi was born on 24 December 1924 in Punjab. He moved to Mumbai to establish himself as a singer in 1944. After partition, he decided to stay in Mumbai. He was given a chance to sing in a chorus in his early career days. But it was Naushad who noticed his voice quality and gave him maximum melodious compositions. Thus in his early career, he got associated with music composer Naushad and later in late 1950’s and 1960’s he worked with other composers like S.D. Burman, Ravi, Madan Mohan Madan Mohan Kohli born on 25thJune 1924 in Iraq (B >> Read More... , Shankar Jaikishan Shankar Jaikishan is a duo musical composer in Bol >> Read More... , and O.P.Nayyar. After Naushad, it was in every composition of O.P.Nayyar that the singer had given maximum hits. 

It is indeed difficult to trace the best songs of Rafi. Rafi has sung maximum songs for Laxmikant-Pyarelal and maximum duet songs with Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar, the veteran playback singer, had >> Read More... , Asha Bhosle Asha is considered to be the second greatest femal >> Read More... , and Manna Dey Manna Dey is one of the greatest Indian classical >> Read More... . If S.D. Burman used Rafi’s voice for Guru Dutt and Dev Anand, Naushad allowed the singer to sing for actors like Dilip Kumar and Bharat Bhushan. In association with Shankar Jaikishen, Rafi gave maximum solo hits that were featured on Rajendra Kumar or Shammi Kapoor Shammi Kapoor: - 'Elvis Presley' of India. >> Read More... . Music composers allowed his voice to get suitable for actors like Raj Kumar and Sunil Dutt.  Rafi has sung a patriotic song ‘"Kar Chale Hum Fida" for music composer Madan Mohan, which is played even today on Independence Day or Republic Day function in India. 

Rafi’s career graph declined when R.D. Burman allowed Kishore Kumar Kishore Kumar is an Indian playback singer, who ha >> Read More... to sing for Rajesh Khanna Born as Jatin Khanna on 29th December 1942, the ch >> Read More... . However, filmmakers like Nasir Hussain and Manmohan Desai Manmohan Desai is an Indian film producer and dire >> Read More... took keen interest to retain Mohammed Rafi’s voice in films they chose to direct. If Rajesh Khanna had opted for Kishore Kumar, Dharmendra had considered only Rafi’s voice in many of his films. Rafi had influenced many singers like Mahendra Kapoor Mahendra Kapoor was a playback singer in 1960’s, a >> Read More... and Sonu Nigam Sonu Nigam is a renowned Bollywood singer and comp >> Read More... in playback singing. Rafi also sang with contemporary singers like Kishore Kumar and Mahendra Kapoor. 
Rafi has sung over 28,000 songs in 11 Indian languages between 1944 and April 1980. The singer passed away on 31 July 1980. Even today, no singer in India had been able to fill the vacant space that he had left.

Mohammed Rafi Family Tree (Infographic Family Tree)