Below is a short list of my favorite musicians.singers from the Indo-Pak Subcontinent. The list is by no means complete and represents only a handful of names that I have been influenced by over the years...
Ghulam Ali (Urdu: غلام علی,Hindi: ग़ुलाम अली (born 1940) is a Pakistani Ghazal singer of the Patiala Gharana. He is not to be confused with the Indian singer Bade Ghulam Ali Khan (of whom he was a disciple) or Chhote Ghulam Ali, who is another Pakistani singer in the Qual Bachon Gharana.
Hemanta Kumar Mukhopadhyay (Bengali: হেমন্ত কুমার মুখোপাধ্যায়; Hemonto Kumar Mukhopaddhae) also known as Hemanta Mukherjee (16 June 1920 – 26 September 1989) was an Indian singer, composer and producer. He sang in Hindi films under the name Hemant Kumar.
Talat Mahmood (Urdu: طلعت محمود) (February 24, 1924 – May 9, 1998) was a popular Indian playback singer and film actor. A recipient of the Padma Bhushan, he was famous for his ghazals.
Mehdi Hassan, (Urdu: مہدی حسن) is a Pakistani Ghazal singer and a former playback singer for Lollywood. He is famously known as the 'King of Ghazal' (Urdu: شہنشاہِ غزل). He has ruled the Pakistan film industry along with Ahmed Rushdi.
Ahmed Rushdi, (Urdu: احمد رشدی; April 24, 1934 – April 11, 1983) was a versatile Pakistani playback singer, who worked in film music and was "an important contributor to the Golden Age of Pakistani film music." Born in Hyderabad Deccan, he migrated to Pakistan and became a leading singer in the Pakistan Film Industry. He is considered to be one of the most versatile singers of the Subcontinent and was capable of singing variety of songs. He is also considered to be the first regular pop singer of South Asia and credited as having sung the "first-ever South Asian" Pop song, "Ko-Ko-Ko-Reena." Rushdi has recorded the highest number of film songs in the history of Pakistani Cinema
In 2003, 20 years after his death, Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf awarded him the Sitara e Imtiaz, the "star of excellence," an honour given for distinguished merit in the fields of literature, arts, sports, medicine, or science. A street in "Gulshan-e-Iqbal",Karachi, also named Ahmed Rushdi Road.
Kishore Kumar (Hindi: किशोर कुमार, 4 August 1929 – 13 October 1987) was an Indian film playback singer and and actor, who also worked as lyricist, composer, producer, director, screenwriter and scriptwriter. Kishore Kumar sang in many Indian languages including Bengali, Hindi, Merathi, Asami, Gujrati and Malyalam. He was the winner of 8 Filmfare Awards for Best Playback Singer and holds the record for most number of Filmfare awards won for that category.
Salim Raza was a super star playback singer who dominated Pakistani Urdu film music from 1957-63. His first film as playback singer was Qatil in 1955. He got breakthrough from his all time super hit song Jaan e Baharan... from the superhit movie "Azra".
Salim Raza was born in a Christian family in Lahore on March 4, 1932 and died on November 25, 1983 in Canada.