Mohammed Rafi : Google dedicates a Doodle on his 93rd birthday
The Doodle created by Mumbai-based illustrator Sajid Shaikh depicts Rafi as the king of playback singing in Bollywood. It shows the journeys of famous Rafi songs as they progressed from the studio, onto the silver screen and into the hearts of fans forever.
The Twitter handle of Google India shared this Doodle and a 5 second's slide show of Mohammed Rafi's pictures. Google India also give a space on the banner of it's Twitter handle.
Google India described Mohammed Rafi, the king of playback singing in India. the legendary singer has nearly 5,000 songs to his credit across a range of genres and many languages. He wrote his legacy through the words he sang in Hindi, English, Arabic, Persian, Sinhalese, Creole, and Dutch.
Mohammed Rafi's nickname was Pheeko and he was born on 24th December of 1924, in Amritsar district of Punjab in India. He was the second eldest of six brothers born to Hajji Ali Mohammad. Rafi learnt classical music from Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan, Pandit Jiwan Lal Mattoo and Firoze Nizami.
The first public performance of Mohammed Rafi has came at the age of 13, when he sang in Lahore featuring K. L. Saigal. In 1941, Rafi, under Shyam Sundar, made his debut in Lahore as a playback singer in the duet "Soniye Nee, Heeriye Nee" with Zeenat Begum in the Punjabi film Gul Baloch in 1944.
Rafi moved to Mumbai in 1944 and rented a ten-by-ten-feet room in the crowded downtown Bhendi Bazar area with Hameed Sahab. Rafi appeared in two movies. In 1945, he appeared on the screen for the song "Tera Jalwa Jis Ne Dekha" in the film Laila Majnu. He sang a number of songs for Naushad as part of the chorus, including "Mere Sapnon Ki Rani, Roohi Roohi" with K. L. Saigal, from the film Shahjahan in 1946.
In 1962–1963, the popular female playback singer Lata Mangeshkar raised the issue of playback singers' share in the royalties. Recognizing Rafi's position as the leading male playback singer, she wanted him to back her in demanding a half-share from the 5% song royalty that the film's producer conceded to select composers.
Mohammed Rafi died on 31st July of 1980, following a massive heart attack, aged just 55. His last song was for the movie Aas Paas, which he had recorded with Laxmikant-Pyarelal. The last song of Rafi was "Shaam Phir Kyun Udaas Hai Dost", recorded just hours before his death.
