Shahida Parveen

Shahida Parveen (1953 – 14 March 2003) was a Pakistani classical singer and folk singer. She was known as The Queen of Kafi.

Early life
Shahida was born in 1953 in Lahore at Pakistan. Shahida's mother Zahida Parveen was also a classical singer. She was trained in classical music by her mother and later she studied music at a Patiala Gharana training school.

At the training school, she studied music and got trained in ghazals and Sufi style music by Ustad Akhtar Hussain, father of Amanat Ali Khan and Hamid Ali Khan. Later, she was also trained in geets and qawwali by well-known classical singer of the sub-continent Chhote Ghulam Ali Khan.

Career
She started singing at Radio Pakistan Lahore by singing classical music and Sufi poetry. Later she began to sing ghazals on radio and she performed the ghazal Deepak Raag Hai Chahat Apni a composition of Zuhoor Nazar that became popular. In the 1970s, she was called Queen of Kafi due to her singing kafi songs on His Masters Voice (HMV) radio and stage.

In 1986, she began to sing on Pakistani television (PTV) programs and one of her program Payal Aur Sargam became popular, when she started singing qawwali and Sufi music. Then she began to sing qawwali at private functions and festivals and in the 1990s, she began to sing national songs on television.

Personal life
Shahida was married and she had two daughters.

Illness and death
She was admitted to Shaikh Zayed Hospital after having kidney problem. Later, her condition improved but then her condition deteriorated.

Shahida died from kidney failure after a week long illness at the age of 50 on March 14 in 2003 and was laid to rest next to her mother's grave at Miani Sahib Graveyard.