Mohammed Rafi (December 24, 1924 - July 31, 1980) was arguably the greatest of Hindi/Urdu playback singers in Bollywood. Rafi still remains popular in Indian Subcontinent and in many other parts of the world such as the UK, Kenya, West Indies, where people of Indian origin have settled. He continues to inspire new Bollywood playback singers like Sonu Nigam, Mohammed Aziz, Shabbir Kumar and Anwar. Rafi sang many duets with Lata, but he has also sung a large number of songs with Geeta Dutt and Lata's sister Asha Bhosle as well.
His songs ranged from classical numbers to patriotic songs, sad lamentations to highly romantic numbers, qawaalis to ghazals and bhajans, and from slow melancholic tunes to fast fun-filled songs.
He sung for Rajendra Kumar and Jeetendra, the tragedy heroes Dilip Kumar and Bharat Bhushan, comedian Johnny Walker, and many more. His voice personified the rebellious image of the star Shammi Kapoor and also gave expression to smaller and younger heroes like Biswajit and Joy Mukherjee. Rafi has also sung for singer-actor Kishore Kumar in a few movies like Raagini, Baaghi Shehzaada, and Shararat.
