THE FRUSTATIONS OF LIFE FORCED ME TO DRINK
THE BLACK NIGHTS OF PAIN FORCED ME TO DRINK!!
(Main talkhi-e-hayat se ghabra ke pi gaya, gham ki syah raat se ghabra ke pi gaya- translated)
Born in Faisalabad, Pakistan, Khan had his first public performance at age of 16, at his father's chelum. He became the head of the family qawwali party in 1971. He was signed by Oriental Star Agencies, Birmingham, England, in the early 1980s. Khan went on to release movie scores and albums in Europe, India, Japan, Pakistan, and the U.S.A. He engaged in collaborations and experiments with Western artists, becoming a well-known world music artist. He toured extensively, performing in over 40 countries.
Khan was born on 12 July 1948 in the city of Faisalabad, Shortly after the Partition of India during which his family moved from their native city of Jalandhar, in East Punjab, India to Layallpur, West Punjab in the newly created state of Pakistan. 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. Initially, his father did not want Khan to follow the family's vocation. He had his heart set on Khan choosing a much more respectable career path and becoming a doctor, 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. Khan began by learning to play tabla alongside his father before progressing to learn Raag Vidya and Bol Bandish. He then went on to learn to sing within the classical framework of khayal. Khan's training with his father was cut short when his father died in 1964, leaving Khan's paternal uncles, Mubarak Ali Khan and Salamat Ali Khan, to complete his training. His first performance was at a traditional graveside ceremony for his father, known as chehalum, which took place forty days after his father's death.
In 1971, after the death of 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.
In 1979, Khan married his first cousin, Naheed (the daughter of Fateh Ali Khan's brother, Salamat Ali Khan); they had one daughter, Nida.
Khan was taken ill with kidney and liver failure on 11 August 1997 in London, England, while on the way to Los Angeles USA in order to receive a kidney transplant. He died of a sudden cardiac arrest at Cromwell Hospital, London, on Saturday, 16 August 1997, aged 48. His body was repatriated to Faisalabad, Pakistan, and his funeral was a public affair. His wife, Naheed Nusrat passed away on 13 September 2013 in Toronto, Canada.
