Nazia Hassan (3 April 1965 – 13 August 2000)’ was a Pakistani pop singer. Nazia Hassan at the age of thirteen won the hearts of millions around the world through her unique style of music. She will always be regarded as the pioneer of sub-continental pop music, selling a staggering 60 million records internationally in a career.
Her most popular song ‘Aap Jaisa Koi‘ from the Indian film Qurbani (1980) gained a lot more appreciation among the masses. She met the film director Feroz Khan at a party in the United Kingdom. Khan later requested Hassan to have an audition with Biddu, a London-based Indian music composer. Biddu then signed her up for ‘Aap Jaisa Koi’, the song he composed for ‘Qurbani’. The song was a huge success in India and despite Hassan being a Pakistani, she gained overnight fame there.
Hassan got fame in Pakistan and all of South Asia in the 1980s. Her debut album, Disco Deewane (1981), also charted in fourteen countries worldwide and became the best-selling Asian pop record up until that time.
Nazia Hassan along with her brother Zohaib Hassan went to sell over 60 million records worldwide. Fans remember Nazia Hassan and her brother, Zohaib Hassan, as the sensations that transformed pop culture in the country and made waves at home and abroad, especially across the border.
According to media reports, Zohaib said that she was a humanitarian. “I always told her that she should not be a singer. She had no airs about herself. But she believed she could reach the hearts of millions through music and singing, and could do good humanitarian work”.
‘Aap Jaisa Koi’ singer was the first Pakistani to win ‘Filmfare Award’ and remains the youngest winner of a ‘Filmfare Award’ in the category of Best Female Playback Singer to date when she was 15. Hassan was also a proud recipient of the ‘Pride of Performance’.
Hassan fought a long battle with cancer during the last years of her life and died of Lung Cancer in London on 13 August 2000 at the age of 36.
The Government of Pakistan has conferred upon Hassan the highest civilian award ‘Pride of Performance’. The award was presented to Hassan's mother Muneeza, by the President of Pakistan in an official ceremony held at Islamabad on 23 March 2002.
People around the world mourn the death of legendary singer Nazia Hassan every year on August 13.
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