The birth anniversary of famous playback singer Saleem Raza is being observed on Saturday. Born on March 4 in 1934 in Amritsar, his real name was Noel Dias but he was known as Saleem Raza. He started his singing career in Lahore and quickly gained popularity. Saleem Raza was a classically trained singer and was more famous for singing sad songs.
He first sang for Lahore Radio Station. Additionally, Raza learned music from the music composers, including Master Sadiq Ali and Ustaad Aashiq Husain.
He was introduced to the Pakistani film industry by veteran film music director Ghulam Ahmed Chishti.
Saleem Raza’s first lucky break came in director Syed Ata Ullah Hashmi’s 1955 film Naukar.
He recorded his voice to the ‘sad’ musical composition, ‘Taqdeer kay malik deikh zara kya zulm hai’, a duet with Kausar Perveen.
He also sang as a playback singer in the film Anwar Kamal Pasha’s Qatil in 1955. Although his big breakthrough came with the song “Yaaro mujhe muaaf rakho, main nashey mein hoon” in Saifuddin Saif’s film Saat Lakh. He went on to sing many other songs in films like Aas Paas, Do Rastey, Hamsafar, Seema and many more. His last film was Payal Ki Jhankar.
He suffered from kidney failure, which proved fatal as he breathed his last on November 25, 1983. At the time of his death, he was 51 years of age.