Born on September 21, 1926 into a family of musicians in Kasur, Noor Jehan was one of the greatest singers of the south Asia and a famous actress of the sub-continent, who worked first in British India and then in Pakistan. Her career spanned seven decades.
Noor Jehan was renowned as one of the greatest and most influential singers of all times and was given the honorific title of ‘Malika-e-Tarannum (the queen of melody). She recorded about 10,000 songs in various languages of India and Pakistan including Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi and Sindhi. She was also considered to be the first female Pakistani film director.
She received many awards, including the Pride of Performance, which was awarded for her acting and singing capabilities, especially for singing patriotic songs passionately during 1965 India-Pakistan war.
Noor Jehan began to sing at the age of six years and showed a keen interest in a range of styles, including traditional folk and popular theatre. She received early training in classical singing from ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan.
She bade farewell to film acting in 1960 after a career of 33 years during which she acted in about 50 films, including 14 made in Pakistan. She then took up playback singing and continued singling throughout the 1970s and 1980s, but after suffered from chest pains in 1986 she gradually stopped singing. Her final contribution to music was a Punjabi song ‘Ki Dam Da Bharosa Yaar’ in ‘Sakhi Badshah’ (1996).
Jehan suffered from chest pains in 1986 on a tour of North America and was diagnosed with angina pectoris after which she underwent bypass surgery. In 2000, she suffered a heart attack and died on December 23, 2000 as a result of heart failure.
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