Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was a Pakistani singer, songwriter, and music director.
39 Facts About Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
2.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was described as the fourth greatest singer of all time by LA Weekly in 2016.
3.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was known for his vocal abilities and could perform at a high level of intensity for several hours.
4.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan became the head of the family qawwali party in 1971, and brought his unique style of sargam, khayal, and rhythm to his family's legacy.
5.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was signed by Oriental Star Agencies, Birmingham, England, in the early 1980s.
6.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan went on to release movie scores and albums in Europe, India, Japan, Pakistan, and the US He engaged in collaborations and experiments with Western artists, becoming a well-known world music artist.
7.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan toured extensively, performing in over 40 countries.
8.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was born into a Punjabi Muslim family in Lyallpur, Punjab, Pakistan, in 1948.
9.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's ancestors learned music and singing there and adopted it as a profession.
10.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was the fifth child and first son of Fateh Ali Khan, a musicologist, vocalist, instrumentalist, and qawwal.
11.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan had his heart set on Nusrat choosing a much more respectable career path and becoming a doctor or engineer because he felt qawwali artists had low social status.
12.
However, Khan showed such an aptitude for and interest in qawwali, that his father finally relented.
13.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan sang mainly in Urdu and Punjabi and occasionally in Persian, Braj Bhasha, and Hindi.
14.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan performed in Paris in 1985 and 1988.
15.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan first visited Japan in 1987, at the invitation of the Japan Foundation.
16.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan performed at the 5th Asian Traditional Performing Art Festival in Japan.
17.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan performed at Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York, in 1989, earning him admiration from the American audience.
18.
In 1988, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan teamed up with Peter Gabriel on the soundtrack to The Last Temptation of Christ, which led to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan being signed to Gabriel's Real World label.
19.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan would go on to release five albums of traditional qawwali through Real World, along with the more experimental albums Mustt Mustt, Night Song, and the posthumous remix album Star Rise.
20.
One of the most noteworthy of these collaborations came in 1995, when Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan grouped with Pearl Jam's lead singer Eddie Vedder on two songs for the soundtrack to Dead Man Walking.
21.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan provided vocals for The Prayer Cycle which was put together by Jonathan Elias, but died before the tracks could be completed.
22.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan contributed songs to, and performed in, several Pakistani films.
23.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan died shortly before the movie's release.
24.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan sang "Saya Bhi Saath Jab Chhod Jaye" for Sunny Deol's movie Dillagi.
25.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan sang "Dulhe Ka Sehra" from the Bollywood movie Dhadkan which was released in 2000.
26.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was overweight in his later years; various reports stated that he weighed over 137 kilograms.
27.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan had been seriously ill for several months, according to a spokesperson at his US label, American Recordings.
28.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's body was repatriated to Faisalabad, and his funeral was a public affair.
29.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is widely considered to be the most important qawwal in history.
30.
In 2005, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan posthumously received the "Legends" award at the UK Asian Music Awards.
31.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan appeared on NPR's 50 great voices list in 2010.
32.
In 2008, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was listed in 14th position in UGO's list of the best singers of all time.
33.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was given the title of Ustad after performing classical music at a function in Lahore on the anniversary of his father's death.
34.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was listed at position 91 on Rolling Stone's 200 Best Singers Of All Time list, which was published on January 1,2023.
35.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan performed qawwali, which means wise or philosophical utterance, as nobody else of his generation did.
36.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's music was appreciated by singers such as Mick Jagger, socialites such as Parmeshwar Godrej, actors such as Amitabh Bachchan, Trudie Styler, Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, and Tim Robbins, and authors such as Sam Harris, who cited Khan as one of his favourite musicians.
37.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's music had a big impact on Bollywood music, inspiring numerous Indian musicians working in Bollywood since the late 1980s.
38.
However, Khan was reportedly aggrieved when Malik turned his spiritual "Allah Hoo, Allah Hoo" into "I Love You, I Love You" in Auzaar.
39.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's music appears on soundtracks for Hollywood films such as The Last Temptation of Christ, Natural Born Killers and Dead Man Walking.