Mehnaz Begum


Mehnaz Begum was a Pakistani singer, well-known as a film playback singer.

Early life and career

Mehnaz Begum was born at Mahmudabad, Uttar Pradesh, India in 1958. Her family migrated to Pakistan in the late 1950s. She received her initial training in music from her mother Kajjan Begum who was also a singer.
She started her career as a playback singer in the early 1970s. Saleem Gilani, the director general of Radio Pakistan, Karachi first spotted her doing a concert at her college and helped her. Mehdi Hassan and his elder brother Pandit Ghulam Qadir trained her at this radio station for about a month. Her melodious voice, musical training and control over her voice made her popular among the Pakistani film music directors.
She sang a variety of genres but specialized in ghazal, thumri, dadra, khayal, drupad and reciting salam, noha and marsiya. She was the daughter of celebrated sub-continental singer Kajjan Begum. and the famous government officer Abdullah Abdullah Tasnim, but when she realized fame, she changed her name to simply Mehnaz or Mehnaz Begum. She also sang ghazals and light classical music for Pakistani television shows
Mehnaz Begum never married but some of her favorite hobbies included bird-watching and admiring nature. Her favorite television show and movie was Franklin and Bambi. Mehnaz Begum loved to paint in her college days and wanted to choose painting as her career. She also delighted in drawing various flowers and birds.

Popular songs

Death

She died on 19 January 2013 at a Bahrain hospital while transiting from Karachi to Miami, Florida for medical treatment of a respiratory ailment. Her condition worsened during the flight and during a stopover at the Bahrain airport, she was taken to a hospital where she died.

Awards and recognition