EntityQ156815· pop 53· linked from 2,149 articles

Mohammed Rafi

Indian playback singer (1924–1980)

AI overview

Mohammed Rafi was an Indian playback singer who performed vocal recordings for films from the 1940s until his death in 1980, becoming one of the most prolific and respected voices in Indian cinema. His work matters because he shaped the sound of Hindi film music during a crucial period in Indian film history and influenced generations of singers and audiences.

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Person · Open Library

Born: 1924-12-24
Died: 1980-07-31
Works: 2

Top works

Mohammed Rafi sings for 16 heroes
We remember

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Sound · Kotla Sultan Singh, Punjab, British India

Mohammed Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) was an Indian playback singer and one of the most popular singers of the Hindi film industry. Rafi was notable for his voice and versatility; his songs ranged from classical numbers to patriotic songs, sad lamentations to highly romantic numbers, qawwalis to ghazals and bhajans. He was known for his ability to mould his voice to the persona of the…

Known for

Final Liberation — Background singer2024
Dastaan-E-Rafi — Self - Singer(archive footage)2016
Jugnu1947

via TMDB

Music · MusicBrainz

Type: Person
Country: IN

Works in European collections

1 object attributed to Mohammed Rafi, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana

Untitled

Article

Mohammed Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) was an Indian playback singer. He is considered to have been one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. Rafi was notable for his versatility and range of voice; his songs varied from fast, peppy numbers to patriotic songs, sad numbers to highly romantic songs, qawwalis to ghazals and bhajans to classical songs. He was known for his ability to mould his voice to the persona and style of the actor lip-syncing the song on screen in the movie. He received six Filmfare Awards and one National Film Award in India. In 1967, the Government of India honored him with the fourth highest civilian award, the Padma Shri. In 2001, Rafi was honoured with the "Best Singer of the Millennium" title by Hero Honda and Stardust magazine. In 2013, Rafi was voted for the Greatest Voice in Hindi Cinema in a CNN-IBN poll.

He recorded songs for over a thousand Hindi films and in many Indian languages as well as some foreign languages, though primarily in Urdu and Punjabi, over which he had a strong command. He recorded as many as 7,000 songs throughout his career, spanning several Indian languages such as Konkani, Assamese, Bhojpuri, Odia, Bengali, Marathi, Sindhi, Kannada, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Magahi, Maithili, and many more. Apart from these, he also sang in some foreign languages, including English, Persian, Arabic, Sinhala, Mauritian Creole, and Dutch.