Muhammad Atif Aslam (Urdu: محمد عاطف اسلم; born 12 March 1983) is a Pakistani playback singer and actor. He has recorded numerous chart-topping songs in both Pakistan and India and is known for his vocal belting technique. He predominantly sings in Urdu, Hindi and has also sung in Bengali. Because of his chart-topping and successful songs, he is often regarded as one of the best playback singers of Indian and Pakistani music industry till date. He has received Tamgha-e-Imtiaz in 2008, the fourth-highest decoration given to civilians in Pakistan and has also received numerous Lux style awards. His acting debut was in the 2011 social drama Bol. In 2019, he was awarded The Dubai Walk of fame-Star for being the "Best Singer in Pakistan".
Early life
Atif Aslam was born into a Punjabi Muslim family in Wazirabad (Gujranwala district), Punjab, Pakistan. He began his education at Kimberley Hall School, Lahore. In 1991, he moved to Rawalpindi where he continued his studies in St. Paul's Cambridge School, Satellite Town, Rawalpindi. In 1995, Aslam returned to Lahore where he continued his studies in Divisional Public School. He attended Fazaia Inter College Lahore for his HSSC in 1999–2001. He attended PICS to do his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science.
Career
Atif Aslam says he has had no formal training in music, that it was not until his college days that he began to actively take part in music competitions and his friends inspired him to pursue a career in music. He has said that Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is one of his very first inspirations in singing.
The career of Atif Aslam begun with forming the band Jal and releasing the song 'Adaat' with Goher Mumtaz in Pakistan in 2003. The original version of the song was written by Goher Mumtaz and sung by Atif Aslam . During that time, Atif Aslam was the lead singer of Jal. He recorded Aadat with his pocket money at the age of 17. The band released the song on the internet in 2003, which became a youth anthem.
After separation from Jal, On 17 July 2004, Aslam released his first album titled Jal Pari (meaning 'Mermaid') which was an instant hit. Several songs from his debut album, such as "Bheegi Yaadein", "Ehsaas", "Mahi Ve", "Ankhon Sey" and the title track "Jal Pari", went on to become major hits and charted across countries in the subcontinent.
He got his first breakthrough in Bollywood when director Mahesh Bhatt called Aslam to seek his consent to include "Woh Lamhey" in the soundtrack of his new motion picture, Zeher (2005).
Following Jal Pari, Aslam released two more successful solo albums, Doorie and Meri Kahani. He has recorded many songs for Hindi cinema, that were successful as well. Because of his chart-topping and successful songs, he is regarded as one of the best playback singers of Indian music industry till date.
International tours
His first international tour was performing in the US and Canada with Rhythm Dhol Bass and Annie Khalid.
Aslam then made his solo debut concert in New Jersey in Summer Beats 2008 at Sovereign Bank Arena, which also featured Kailash Kher, Richa Sharma and Amanat Ali. After a solo debut concert in New Jersey, Aslam returned with his band and special guests to Queens Colden Center, New York to perform on 2 July 2010.
Two years later, Aslam returned to the US. Collaborating with vocalist Shreya Ghoshal, their March 2010 tour originally had 10 shows announced in US and Canada. However, the response inspired the organizers to put shows in six more cities.
The following month, Aslam made his debut in South America with a performance at Anthony Nesty Sports Hall, Suriname.[citation needed]
He continued to tour the world with headline performances at the Royal Albert Hall in London, alongside Jay Sean). He followed that with dates, across major concert venues in the UK in 2010.
Aslam performed with Sunidhi Chauhan for the first time at Hershey Centre, Mississauga, followed by another show at Oracle Arena, San Francisco, Oakland, in July 2011, during their USA and Canada tour. In September 2011, Aslam performed at New York.
Aslam performing at O2 Arena
On 22 April 2012, Aslam became the first Pakistani to perform in London's O2 Arena a concert spectacular to promote love, peace and unity among India and Pakistan. Aslam performed for four hours. This was followed up by shows in Manchester and Glasgow.
In 2012, he was invited for three concerts at the World Trade Centre in Dubai. This was followed by his debut concert in Bangkok at the Centara Convention Centre on 6 October 2012.
Aslam then returned to perform in ten major Pakistani cities during his Jazz Jazba Generation Tour.
On 2 November, he performed his first public concert in Malaysia.
In December 2012, Aslam was named among top performers of Dubai for 2012 alongside Pitbull, Enrique Iglesias, Il Divo, Gotye, Evanescence and Swedish House Mafia.
Aslam also is the first artist from Asia, and the second artist after Bryan Adams, to be permitted to perform inside the Dashrath Rangasla National Football Stadium in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Aslam once again returned to Dubai for multiple concerts in 2013 at the world-famous Atlantis resort.
In April 2013, Aslam performed for the first time at the LG Arena in Birmingham following which he became the first artist from Asia to perform twice at London's O2 Arena. Also in concert at the O2 were Bollywood stars Shaan, Malaika Arora Khan & Bipasha Basu.
In November 2014, Aslam performed at the Leisure Valley grounds in Gurgaon in front of thousands,followed by a performance of Arijit Singh.
Because of immense popularity and fan following, Atif Aslam has also performed in Bangladesh and Kenya.
Atif Aslam performed alongside Sonu Nigam in three occasions, one of which is a concert Shaam-e-Dostana at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre in Malaysia.
Atif Aslam has also performed alongside Neha Kakkar during their USA -Canada tour in 2018 in Long Beach California,Los Angeles.
Hollywood
Four songs from Aslam's second album Doorie were featured in two films. Two of them; "Yakeen" and "Ehsaas", and a single "Aadat" from his first album Jal Pari, featured in Ramin Bahrani's 2005 film Man Push Cart which has won international awards and was praised by the critics. Two other songs, "Doorie" and "Maula", were selected in 2010 for the soundtrack of the Spanish Beauty, the Hindi version of the 2005 Mexican film La mujer de mi hermano directed by Ricardo de Montreuil. He then sang two songs; "Bol Ke Lab Azaad Hain" and "Mori Araj Suno", in Mira Nair's 2012 film The Reluctant Fundamentalist.
Acting career
Aslam made his acting debut in the 2011 Pakistani movie Bol.
Television
Aslam at launch of Sur Kshetra
Aslam appeared as a captain of Team Pakistan in a singing talent show called Sur Kshetra which was shot and broadcast from Dubai, where Indian and Pakistani contestants competed against each other. At the end of the show, Nabeel Shaukat Ali from Aslam's team won the contest.
On 19 April 2017, he hosted the 16th Lux Style Awards ceremony, and it was the first time he was seen hosting the ceremony of Lux Style Awards.
He along with Meesha Shafi, Fawad Khan and Shahi Hasan was also on the judge panel of a nationwide talent show Pepsi Battle of the Bands; emceed by PepsiCo Pakistan from July to September 2017.
On 1 November 2017, Aslam's rendition of "Tajdar-e-Haram" crossed 100 million views on YouTube, becoming the first video origin in Pakistan to achieve the landmark record. The qawwali-song, originally sung by Sabri Brothers, was released on 15 August 2015 in CokeStudio8 and has been viewed in 186 countries across the world. Also, it is Aslam's first individual video on YouTube to make the record.
Recently, he recited Adhan shortly after which Coke Studio released Asma-ul-Husna, The 99 Names of God in Islam, recited by Atif Aslam and produced by Zulfiqar Jabbar Khan as an expression of solidarity with humanity amid COVID-19 pandemic. It features voices from the universe recorded by NASA, thirty three backing vocalist from across the globe and the sound of Daf with pronunciation supervised by Hafiz Idrees giving it the feat of having 4M views in just four days on YouTube.
Singing style, impact and recognition
Atif Aslam is a highly acclaimed singer in both India and Pakistan. Musician and singer Sajjad Ali said: "You can see how big Artists try to copy Atif's way of singing, tune, where to pick up from, where and when to hold and even release a note. Not that they are bad singers, they can sing pretty well, but you can see why they try to sing in Atif's expression and tone". Arijit Singh, one of the most acclaimed singers of India, is often compared to Atif Aslam because of similar tone of singing. Regarding this, Atif Aslam said: "If God’s kind to someone you should also respect them. Arijit has been blessed and people should respect him. I am no one to control anyone. We need to understand there’s no such thing as number one". When asked about what he thinks of Aslam, music director A. R Rahman said in an interview: "Gifted, he has a great voice".
Renowned music director duo Vishal-Shekhar said: "One thing about Atif Aslam is that his voice is magic. His voice quality is unbelievable. A lot of people had been working with him. And there is something in his voice. There is something". Popular music director Amaal Malik said: "It was a true dream come true moment for me when Atif Aslam sung my composition". Legendary music director Pritam said in a reality show: "Someone may sing better than Atif. But the singing that Atif does, only he can do. It's about his identity. Popular playback singer Mohit Chauhan is all praise for Aslam: "I love this guy and I love his songs".
Regarding comparisons with Arijit Singh, music director Amaal Malik said that one "can’t compare any one to Atif Aslam, he is a senior and has been around for years" and that "Arijit is Arijit, Atif is Atif, they have their own styles and strengths".
Acclaimed music directors, Vishal-Shekhar shared about their experience while working with Atif Aslam for the first time in the song Dil Diyan Gallan and they were amazed when Atif was singing 'low' after a very long time, and how he made the song sound very fresh .
Alamgir, one of the pioneers of pop singing in Pakistan, has thanked Atif Aslam along with Ali Zafar for keeping the pop-genre still alive in Pakistan. Asha Bhosle, who was a judge of the show Sur K Shetra where Atif was a mentor, said in the press-conference when asked about Pakistani singers, farewell tour of Britain, "I love Atif Aslam and the way he sings. Whenever we have Pakistani singers come to India, we show them respect and love and we don't feel they are from somewhere else. We feel they are all our own.I don't notice nationalities when I sing. I have sung with Badi Apa, by that I mean Noor Jahan ji and I used to know her very well"
Personal life
He married educationist Sara Bharwana Aslam, in Lahore on 29 March 2013. Their first child was born in 2014, named as Ahad Atif Aslam. They became parents again in December 2019, with their second son.
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