Legendary singer Mohammad Rafi, whose voice has mesmerised generations of listeners, was paid tributes by a large number of fans on his 26th death anniversary today.
To mark the day, FM radio channels played several popular numbers from his varied repertoire, that include soft romantic songs, qawwalis, tragic compositions and peppy numbers - all delivered with equal elan.
Rafi, who had achieved fame as a playback singer, was born in Amritsar, Punjab, on December 24, 1924.
He came to Mumbai in the early forties and with the release of his first film as a playback singer Gul Baloch in 1944, his popularity soared as he captured the fancy of music lovers and then lent his voice to innumberable heroes in Hindi films for over two decades.
Though he worked with all leading music composers of his time, his association with Naushad (as a music composer) and actors Dilip Kumar and Shammi Kapoor (for whom he lent his voice), produced many sterling compositions.
He had even sung for Shammi Kapoor's nephew, Rishi Kapoor (Amar Akbar Anthony - 1977).
Rafi won the Filmfare award six times and was honoured with Padmashree in 1965.