Mohammed Rafi, the legend of the Indian music industry, was the most inspiring singer in India. He has a versatile touch to his voice and so each of his songs was very unique and popular. He had the magic to draw the attention of the listeners taking them into the depth of the song. Here we have listed down a few facts on Rafi that are not known.
1. Rafi was born in 1924 and was nicknamed Pheeko. He died in Mumbai on 31, July 1980. And his funeral was attended by more than ten thousand people. He was 55 at the time of his death.
2. He also created a song as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi. Bapuji Ki Amar Kahani and Suno Suno Ae Duniyawalon. Also, Jawaharlal Nehru invited him to sing at his place.
3. Rafi was only 13 years old when he started singing and had his first public appearance. He learned singing by imitating the fakir on the streets of Amritsar.
4. He was married twice, but the first marriage was a secret. At the age of 13, he married his uncle’s daughter but their marriage broke as she refused to accompany him to India after losing her parents.
5. His debut singing was a duet Soniye Nee Hiriye Nee with Zeenat. He was a multilingual singer and has sung in many other languages. He has sung more than four thousand songs in Hindi and 112 other language songs. Also, he had a majority number of duets with Asha Bhosle, Manna Dey, and Lata Mangeshkar.
6. As a tribute to his death anniversary in July 2011, over 9000 musical tributes were organized.
7. In 1948, he was honored with a silver medal by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and in 1967, the government of India awarded him with the Padma Shri award.
