 | Thisbiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "Shabbir Kumar" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(May 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Shabbir Kumar | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Shabbir Shaikh |
| Born | (1954-10-26)26 October 1954 (age 70) Baroda,Bombay State,India |
| Occupation | Playback singer |
| Years active | 1981–present |
| Website | shabbirkumar.com |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | |
| Instrument | Vocals |
Shabbir Kumar (born 26 October 1954) is an Indian playback singer, notable for his work inBollywood.[1] Known for his sweet and resonant voice,Shabbir Kumar is an ardent fan ofMohammed Rafi. Artists with whom he has worked includeDharmendra,Jeetendra,Rishi Kapoor,Mithun Chakraborty,Amitabh Bachchan,Sunny Deol,Sanjay Dutt,Jackie Shroff,Anil Kapoor,Govinda,Chunky Pandey.
Shabbir Kumar started his music career inBaroda. His first high profile work was with one of India's leading orchestras, Melody Makers, which performed mainly inPune andMumbai. He later collaborated with other fans of Mohammed Rafi as a promoter forEk Shaam Rafi Ke Naam, a show produced in Rafi's honour. Shabbir claims that when he attended Rafi's funeral in 1980, his wristwatch fell into Rafi's open grave. He interpreted the incident as a divine message that he was to be Rafi's successor.
Music directorUsha Khanna gave Shabbir Kumar a break in the filmTajurba (1981). Shabbir got a major break, when the directorManmohan Desai, who was looking for a Rafi substitute, noticed him and recommended him to music director duoLaxmikant–Pyarelal (L-P). Within a few days, L-P gave Shabbir Kumar songs in the filmCoolie, which was released in 1983. Shabbir's first released film with L-P wasMain Intequam Loonga.
Shabbir Kumar was first noted for a duet withLata Mangeshkar,Shaam Hai Ye Kuch Khoyi Khoyi fromPrem Tapasya (1983). Music directorAnu Malik got him to sing forRajiv Kapoor in his debut filmEk Jaan Hain Hum (1983). Shabbir Kumar was acknowledged as a leading playback singer with the filmBetaab. Music directorRahul Dev Burman got him to sing all the five songs forSunny Deol. Also, in 1983,Coolie was released, in whichLaxmikant–Pyarelal had given him all the seven songs, six forAmitabh Bachchan, and one forRishi Kapoor.
In the 1980s, Shabbir Kumar sang for all the leading music directors includingLaxmikant–Pyarelal,Rahul Dev Burman,Chitragupt,Kalyanji-Anandji,Rajesh Roshan,Usha Khanna,Bappi Lahiri,Anu Malik,Ravindra Jain,Raamlaxman,Nadeem Shravan,Anand Milind,Jatin–Lalit,Uttam Singh. He did playback singing for leading actors such asDilip Kumar,Dharmendra,Amitabh Bachchan,Jackie Shroff,Rishi Kapoor,Jeetendra,Mithun Chakraborty,Raj Babbar,Govinda,Chunky Pandey,Sanjay Dutt,Kumar Gaurav,Kamal Haasan,Rajnikanth,Anil Kapoor,Sunny Deol,Rajiv Kapoor andAkshay Kumar. Recently he sang forIsmail Darbar,Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy andA.R. Rahman.
His last Hit songs wereGori Hai Kalaiyan fromAaj Ka Arjun (1990) andSochna Kya fromGhayal (1990).
Shabbir then started concentrating on stage shows. He sang for many films and private albums in the year 2000, few hits wereGhaath (2000),Awara Paagal Deewana (2002), andAan: Men at Work (2004). Recently, Shabbir Kumar sang forAkshay Kumar in the movieHousefull (2010) which is a comeback for this singer.
He has sung in different languages like Hindi, Urdu, Marathi, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Gujarati, Haryanvi, Oriya, Malayalam and English. He is awarded with 34 Gold Discs, 16 Platinum, 1 Kohinoor Disc and also received a number of other awards. Received award as "The Best Playback Singer" in Dubai, U.A.E., "Mohammed Rafi Award" in Bombay first time ever in India, "Kalaa Ratan Award" from President of IndiaZail Singh as Best Playback Singer. His contributions to Music industry over 6 thousand songs and more than 1500 Films in his portfolio.
He has performed several live concerts in UAE, Europe, South Africa, United States of America and many other places.
