Noor Jehan

Noor Jehan was a Pakistani playback singer and actress who worked first in British India and then in the cinema of Pakistan. Her career spanned more than six decades (the 1930s–1990s). She was given the honorific title of Malika-e-Tarannum (Queen of Melody) in Pakistan. She had a command of Hindustani classical music as well as other music genres. Along with Ahmed Rushdi, she holds the record for having given voice to the largest number of film songs in the history of Pakistani cinema. She recorded about 10,000 songs in various languages including Urdu, Punjabi and Sindhi. She sang a total of 2,422 songs in 1,148 Pakistani films during a career that lasted more than half a century. She is also considered to be the first female Pakistani film director. She was born on 21 September 1926 in Kasur, a city in Punjab, British India (now Pakistan). She belonged to a family of musicians and learned music from her father and uncle, who were also renowned singers. She started her career by singing the compositions of her father and uncle, but later developed her own style of singing, which came to be known as the Noor Jehan style. She was known for her mastery of various genres of classical music, such as khayal, thumri, dadra, and ghazal. She sang in various languages, such as Urdu, Punjabi, Persian, and Braj Bhasha. She composed many songs under the pen name of Noor Jehan. She performed in various countries, including India, Pakistan, UK, US, and Germany, where she was highly acclaimed and respected. She was awarded the Pride of Performance by the Government of Pakistan in 1965 and the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, the Sitara-e-Imtiaz and the Nishan-e-Imtiaz by the Government of Pakistan in 1966, 1996 and 1997 respectively. She also sang two songs for the 1960 film Mughal-e-Azam, for which she received a very high remuneration. She died of heart failure in Karachi on 23 December 2000. She is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential singers in the Indian subcontinent.