Ali Zafar - Interview

Ali Zafar
Background information
Born	May 18, 1980
Origin	Lahore, Pakistan
Genre(s)	Pop, Lollywood
Years active	2003–present
Label(s)	Sadaf Stereo

Ali Zafar (Urdu: علی ظفر) is a Pakistani singer, actor and model, known as the "Prince of Pop".

Early life

Zafar was born in Lahore, Pakistan to two professors at the University of the Punjab in 1980. He attended the C.A.A. Public School and the Beaconhouse Defence Campus. He graduated from the National College of Arts as a painter in 2002.

Music career

Ali Zafar made his debut as a musician with the album Huqa Pani, released in Pakistan in 2003 and worldwide in 2005. It was described by The Hindu as "take a Kishore Kumar-like voice , club it with yuppie Ibiza-ish electronic beats, add a bit of nostalgic lyrics, and the 1970s Bollywood style".The comparison to Kishore Kumar has been frequently made: in one interview Zafar, asked about the vocal resemblance, remarked "you're the lucky hundredth person to tell me that".

The album was a hit, selling over five million copies worldwide and winning the 'Best Album' category at the Lux Style Awards in 2004. In addition to the album's popularity being reflected in the shops and by critics, it has been widely claimed that Himesh Reshammiya plagiarised one of the most well-known tracks from the album, Rangeen, for the song Dillagi Mein Jo Beet Jaaye. Soon Pritam too copied his track Channo Ki as Choreen ki Baatein(Fightclub).

Ali Zafar launched his second album "Masty" nationwide in Pakistan in November 2006. He has since released 2 tracks from the album called "Masty" and "Sajania". A press conference for the release of the album was held in Lahore. The album has been released by Fire Records.

Ali Zafar recently released his new album "Masty" in India in February 2007. The album contains two additional remix tracks and has been launched by "FrankFinn Records".

Discography

Albums

• Masty (December 1, 2006)
• Huqa Pani (November 21, 2003)

Trivia

• Zafar also works as a model and actor: he has starred in TV commercials, which includes one for Pepsi, and played the character Ramiz in the Pakistani serial Lunda-Bazar.
• He was in a music video of Abrar-ul-Haq.
• His hobbies include bowling and the computer game Counter-Strike.