Mehdi Hassan

Mehdi Hasan Khan, NI (Urdu: مہدی حسَن خان ‎), (18 July 1927 – 13 June 2012) was a Pakistani ghazal singer and playback singer for Lollywood. One of the greatest and most influential figures in the history of ghazal singing, he is famously known as the "King of Ghazal" or the "Shahanshah-e-Ghazal". Known for his "haunting" baritone voice, Mehdi Hassan is credited with bringing ghazal singing to a worldwide audience. He is unique for his melodic patterns and maintaining integrity of the ragas in an innovative way. He was aware of his responsibility in keeping the raga based ghazal genre alive in modern times. Born to a musical family, he influenced generations of singers from diverse genres, from Jagjit Singh to Sonu Nigam. He earned numerous awards and accolades in his career and remained a leading singer of Pakistani film industry along with another contemporary playback singer Ahmed Rushdi, and it's estimated that "he sang and created soundtracks for almost 300 movies."