Shabbir Kumar
Shabbir Kumar sang in the manner of Mohammed Rafi so closely that after Rafi's death in 1980 Laxmikant-Pyarelal and Bappi Lahiri simply gave him Rafi's work: Jab Hum Jawan Honge in Betaab (1983) for Sunny Deol's debut, the Coolie and Mard songs for Amitabh Bachchan, Sohni Mahiwal, Dharam Veer's successors. For four or five years he was the busiest male singer in Bombay; then Udit Narayan and Kumar Sanu arrived.
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Landmark songs
Life
He was born in Baroda in 1954 and sang Rafi songs in orchestras in Gujarat before coming to Bombay; Usha Khanna gave him his first song in Tajurba (1981), and R.D. Burman's Betaab, Laxmikant-Pyarelal's Coolie (1983), Anu Malik's Sohni Mahiwal (1984) and Mard (1985) made him. He sang for Amitabh Bachchan, Sunny Deol, Mithun Chakraborty, Jackie Shroff and Anil Kapoor through the middle of the decade.
When the fashion turned to new voices around 1988–90 his film work fell away; he has since sung on stage, largely Rafi tribute shows, in India and abroad, and lives in Mumbai.
The voice
Shabbir Kumar's voice is a high, powerful tenor with the Rafi inflections learnt from records — the same swoops and catches — and a strength at the top that suited the 1980s' loud, orchestra-heavy song. Heard on its own terms it has warmth and sincerity; the resemblance that made his career also kept him from being heard as himself.
Composers
- Laxmikant-Pyarelal
- R.D. Burman
- Bappi Lahiri
- Anu Malik
- Usha Khanna
- Anand-Milind
Sang for
- Sunny Deol
- Amitabh Bachchan
- Mithun Chakraborty
- Jackie Shroff
- Anil Kapoor
- Rishi Kapoor
Sang with
More film songs 10 songs, by year
1980s
1990s
year not stated
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Singers of the same years
- Lata Mangeshkar
- Mukesh
- Asha Bhosle
- Manna Dey
- Mahendra Kapoor
- Suman Kalyanpur
- Sharda
- Usha Mangeshkar
- S.D. Burman (as singer)
- Mohammed Rafi
- Kishore Kumar
- K.J. Yesudas
- Shailendra Singh
- Amit Kumar
- Anuradha Paudwal
- Kavita Krishnamurthy
- Suresh Wadkar
- Mohammed Aziz
- Anwar
- Nitin Mukesh
- Hemlata
- Chandrani Mukherjee
- Sulakshana Pandit
- Runa Laila
- Bappi Lahiri (as singer)
- Manhar Udhas
- Udit Narayan
- S.P. Balasubrahmanyam
- Sadhana Sargam
- Alka Yagnik