Shabbir Kumar
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26 October 1954
Shabbir Kumar | |
|---|---|
| Born | Shabbir Shaikh 26 October 1954 |
| 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 in Bollywood. He became famous as an imitator of Mohammed Rafi, and sang several hit songs in the 1980s.
Shabbir Kumar was born Shaikh Shabbeer Ahmed,[1] on 26 October 1954 in Baroda, Gujarat.[2] He was eldest of the ten siblings,[3] and had no formal training in music.[2] He became interested in singing as a child, and gained attention for imitating the voice of Mohammed Rafi.[4] By his early 20s, his stage shows became popular in Gujarat. He personally met Rafi in 1972 at a recording session, and drew a pencil sketch of Rafi. In 1974, he met Rafi at a stage show in Ahmedabad, where he was introduced as the "local Rafi".[3] He claims that when police attempted to disperse the crowd at Rafi's funeral in 1980, his wristwatch and pen fell into Rafi's open grave and were buried there.[5]
After Rafi's death in 1980, Shabbir Kumar sang Rafi's songs at Ek Raat Rafi Ke Naam, an event organized to honor Rafi. This made Shabbir Kumar more popular, and he started doing several stage shows.[4]
Bollywood career
Music director Usha Khanna noticed Shabbir Kumar, and called him for an audition, where she asked him to sing two of Rafi's songs - Teri Galiyon Mein and Main Yeh Soch Kar. She offered him a song in the 1981 movie Tajurba. The song featured only three lines by Shabbir Kumar; the other singers were Amit Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Suresh Wadkar, and Usha Mangeshkar. Usha Khanna promoted him in the film industry, and he got a chance to sing his first solo for the movie Sardar.[3]
Manmohan Desai, the director of the movie Coolie (1983), wanted someone with Rafi's voice to sing the songs for the movie.[6] Usha Khanna recommended Shabbir Kumar to him, and the movie's music director Laxmikant invited Shabbir Kumar to Mumbai for an audition. The Coolie songs, filmed on Amitabh Bachchan, gave Shabbir Kumar his big break.[3]
Subsequently, R.D. Burman offered him songs in the movie Betaab (1983). While recording a duet he became nervous, and his co-singer Lata Mangeshkar paused the recording to calm him down before a retake.[7] The duet - Jab Hum Jawan Honge - became a hit.[8] He went on to with other notable music directors, including Chitragupta, Bappi Lahiri, Anu Malik, and Jatin-Lalit. He sang in several languages, including Hindi, Urdu, Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Bhojpuri and Gujarati.[4]
Shabbikr Kumar sang around 3700 songs for about 250 movies.[9] His popular songs include Zindagi Har Kadam from Meri Jung (1985),[10] Tumse Milkar Na Jane Kyun from Pyar Jhukta Nahin (1985), Zihale Maskin from Ghulami (1985)[11] and Gori Hain Kalaiyan from Aaj Ka Arjun (1990).[8]
Gradually, Shabbir Kumar's career declined as Mohammed Aziz and Anwar became more popular as imitators of Mohammad Rafi. He then focused on stage singing, performing in the US, UAE, Europe and South Africa, besides India.[4] In the 1990s, he tried to shed his image of being a Rafi clone.[3] Occasionally, he sang for Hindi films, including the 2010 movie Housefull.[12] In 2012, he became involved in a controversy with Lata Mangeshkar, when he challenged her claim that Rafi had written her a letter of apology.[4][13] In 2023, he appeared on The Kapil Sharma Show.[14]
Shabbir Kumar's music certifications include 34 Gold Discs and 16 Platinum Discs.[15]
