Earlier life and career
Khan was born in a Punjabi
Muslim family in Faisalabad in
1948, shortly after the partition of India in 1947 during which
his family had migrated to Pakistan from their native city of Jalandhar in East Punjab, British India (now
in Punjab, India).He originates from Basti Sheikh
in Jalandhar. His ancestors learnt music and singing there and adopted it as a
profession. He was the fifth child and first son of Fateh Ali Khan, a
musicologist, vocalist, instrumentalist, and qawwal.
Khan's family, which included four older sisters and a younger brother, Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan, grew up in central
Faisalabad. The tradition of qawwali in the family had passed down through
successive generations for almost 600 years. Initially, his father did not
want Khan to follow the family's vocation. He had his heart set on Nusrat
choosing a much more respectable career path and becoming a doctor or engineer,
because he felt Qawwali artists had low social status. However, Khan showed
such an aptitude for and interest in Qawwali, that his father finally relented.
He began by learning the tabla before moving
on to vocals. In 1964, Khan's father died, leaving his musical education
under the supervision of his paternal uncles, Mubarak Ali Khan and Salamat AliKhan. He is the uncle of singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.
In
1971, after the death of his uncle Mubarak Ali Khan, Khan became the official
leader of the family Qawwali party and the party became known as Nusrat
Fateh Ali Khan, Mujahid Mubarak Ali Khan & Party. Khan's first public
performance as the leader of the Qawwali party was at a studio recording
broadcast as part of an annual music festival organised by Radio
Pakistan, known as Jashn-e-Baharan. Khan sang mainly
in Urdu and Punjabi and
occasionally in Persian, Braj Bhasha and Hindi. His first major hit
in Pakistan was the song Haq Ali Ali, which was performed in a
traditional style and with traditional instrumentation. The song featured
restrained use of Khan's sargam improvisations.
Later Career
In the summer of 1985, Khan performed at the World of Music, Arts and Dance (WOMAD)
festival in London. He performed in Paris in 1985 and 1988. He first
visited Japan in 1987, at the invitation of the Japan Foundation.
He performed at the 5th Asian Traditional Performing Art Festival in Japan. He
also performed at Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York in
1989, earning him admiration from the American audience.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, throughout his career, had great
understanding with many south Asian singers such as the (late) Alam Lohar, the
(late) Noor Jehan, and various other Pakistani and Indian singers.
In the 1992–93 academic year, Khan was a Visiting Artist in
the Ethnomusicology department at the University of Washington, Seattle,
Washington, United States.
In 1988, Khan teamed with Peter Gabriel on
the soundtrack to The Last Temptation of Christ,
which led to Khan being signed to Gabriel's Real World label. He would go on to
release five albums of traditional Qawwali through Real World, along with the
more experimental albums Mustt Mustt (1990), Night Song (1996),and the posthumous remix album Star Rise (1997).
Khan's experimental work for Real World, which featured hiscollaborations with the Canadian guitarist Michael Brook,
spurred on several further collaborations with a number of other Western
composers and rock musicians. One of the most noteworthy of these
collaborations came in 1995, when Khan grouped with Pearl Jam's
lead singer Eddie Vedder on two songs for the
soundtrack to Dead Man Walking. Khan also provided
vocals for The Prayer Cycle, which was put together
by Jonathan Elias, but died before the tracks
could be completed. Alanis
Morissette was brought in to sing with his unfinished vocals.
In 2002, Gabriel included Khan's vocals on the posthumously released track
"Signal to Noise" on his album Up.
Khan's album Intoxicated Spirit was nominated
for a Grammy award in 1997 for best traditional folk album. That same year, his
album Night Songwas also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best World Music
Album, but lost out to The Chieftains'
album Santiago.
Khan contributed songs to, and performed in, several Pakistani
films. Shortly before his death, he composed music for three Bollywood films,
which includes the film Aur Pyaar Ho
Gaya, in which he also sang for "Koi Jaane Koi Na
Jaane" onscreen with the lead pair, and "Zindagi Jhoom Kar"; He
also composed music for Kartoos, where he sang for "Ishq Da Rutba", and
"Bahaa Na Aansoo", alongside Udit Narayan. He died very shortly prior
to the movie's release. His final music composition for Bollywood was for the
movie, Kachche Dhaage, where he sang in "Iss
Shaan-E-Karam Ka Kya Kehna". The movie was released in 1999, two years
after his death. It is notable that the two legendary singing sisters of
Bollywood, Asha Bhosle and Lata Mangeshkar sang
for the songs he composed in his brief stint in Bollywood. He sang "Saya
Bhi Saath Jab Chhod Jaye" for Sunny Deol's
movie Dillagi. The song was released in 1999, twoyears after Khan's death. He also sang "Dulhe Ka Sehra" from the
Bollywood movie Dhadkan which was released in 2000.
Khan contributed the song "Gurus of Peace" to the
album Vande Mataram, composed by A. R. Rahman,
and released to celebrate the 50th anniversary of India's independence. As a
posthumous tribute, Rahman later released an album titled Gurus of
Peace, which featured "Allah Hoo" by Khan. Rahman's 2007 song
"Tere Bina"
was also composed as a tribute to Khan.
Death
After traveling to London from
his native Pakistan for treatment for liver and kidney problems, Khan was
rushed from the airport to CromwellHospital.
London's Daily Telegraph reported
that doctors at the hospital attributed Khan's death to his treatment in
Pakistan with infected dialysis equipment, from which they said he contracted
hepatitis. The singer, who various reports said weighed over 300 pounds, had
been seriously ill for several months, according to a spokesperson at his U.S.
label, American Recordings.
He died of a sudden cardiac arrest at Cromwell
Hospital, London on 16 August 1997, aged 48. His body was
repatriated to Faisalabad, and his funeral was a public affair. He was buried
in Kabootran Wala Qabristan also known as Jhang Road Graveyard on Jhang Road,
Faisalabad.Map
His wife, Naheed Nusrat, died on 13 September 2013
in Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga,
Ontario, Canada. Naheed had moved to Canada after the death of her husband. She
is survived by their daughter Nida Khan. Khan's musical legacy is now carried
forward by his nephew, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.
