Ali Haider (Urdu: علی حیدر) is a former Pakistani singer and actor. He has had numerous hits in the early 90s such as Poorani Jeans. He also had a big hit later in the 1990s with Chand Sa Mukhra. Besides singing, he has acted in numerous TV serials on PTV. Among the successful dramas was Chand Sa Mukhra, which used his hit song as the theme music. He also sang the theme music for the serial Chandni Raatein. He has a large fan following in Pakistan and India and with South Asian expatriates around the world. After resignation from music in 2009, Haider has become a sana khawan, and has released 3 religious albums, Mola Dil Badal Day, Shor Hai Mehshar Ka and Tuluh E Fikr.
Career
Ali Haider grew up in the neighbourhood of Firdous Colony in Karachi, and was pursuing a Civil Engineering degree at NED University when his showbiz career began.
Since the 1990s, Ali Haider has produced over sixteen music albums of which dozens of songs were top hits and became very popular. These earned him a place among the top singers of Pakistan.
His first album was Jane Jan Sun which included the title songs of jawaniyan, and Dhoop Kinare sung along with Nayyara Noor. This album was released by EMI and is obsolete in market, however, it may be found in some collections. The 2nd album he released was entitled "Chahat". The music was given by Bunny and a song with Sadaf Munir (now Sadaf Iqbal). That album was purchased by HMV India. Two of the most popular songs from the album were "Chahat" and "Ajnabi".
With the moderate success of the his second album, he released his third album, titled Qarar, which was much better than his previous two albums. It consisted of songs such as Qarar (the title song), Shehnahee and Jadu Kiya, which went on to become top hits. The music was composed by Amir khan, Bunny and Ali Haider himself. As Haider improved so did his music, his fourth album, Sandesa produced the hit songs Purani Jeans and Sandesa. These went to the top of the charts and remained at the top for a number of weeks.
His next album, Pakola Album did moderately well with songs such as Zaalim Nazron Say and Laila making it into the charts. His sixth album, Dastaan is known to be the best album, Haider has produced since his career started. It shot straight to number one and brought him great popularity at the time. In this album he produced a variety of music genres that suited pretty much anyone. The songs responsible for his popularity were Walawai, Papa Mummi and Ranjha Heer.
After some time, Haider released the album "The Best of Ali Haider", which pretty much summoned up that he is ending his music career. The album included all his major hits and favourite songs he has produced in the past. Some of the songs included in this collection were Purani Jeans, Walawai, Qarar and Sandesa. Later he went on to released another compilation to the previous album that was entitles Sayoni.
After sometime Haider released another two albums, Saaiyan and Jadu in which he has produced quite a number of popular tracks that did prove to be successful. Haider released his 15th Album in 2007 titled "Janey Do". This album also featured three previous songs with significant modifications. The all time favourite "Purani Jeans" made a return with a hard rock format. Qarar and "Agar Pyar" from the 1993 album Sandesa were also featured.
Haider has also acted in the Lollywood film titled Chalo Ishq Larain which was released in 2002. He was also seen playing the small role of Himself in the Bollywood film Main Osama which was directed by the controversial film Maker Faisal Saif. This feature film hit the cinema halls worldwide in 2008.
His reputation of recent years has taken a hit after an alleged drunken romp with an upcoming model Neha Ahmed that led to police action after complaints from residents where this is alleged to have taken place. More recently he has quit singing.
Resignation from Music
On 23 June 2009, Geo News reported that Ali Haider decided to resign from the world of music, which was also confirmed by the former singer and a Pakistani music website PakiUM.com.
His last music album was released on the internet named Stop and Think..? in 2009 shortly after his decision to quit music. Ali Haider donated all the proceeds from this Album to Charity.
He has since then released a religious songs album in the praise of Allah (God). His latest religious Album is Moula Dil Badal Dey, which consist of Hamds, Naats and different poetry on current situation of Muslim Ummah. He is also a Noha Khawan and has released his first Noha album in 2010, Shor Hai Mehshar Ka. He also released a manqabat album in 2010 called Tuluh E Fiqr.
Discography
Albums
- Jane Jan Sun - 1988
- Chahat - 1989
- Tarang - 1990
- Qarar - 1991
- Sandesa - 1993
- Sanwala Saloona - 1994
- Dastaan - 1995
- Jania - 1996
- Mahi - 1998
- Saiyyaan - 1999
- Jadoo - 2000
- Chandni Raatein - 2002
- Tera Naam Liya To - 2003
- Purani Jeans (Remixes) - 2006
- Jaanay Do - 2007
- Stop and Think ...? - 2009
- Moula Dil Badal Dey - 2009
- Shor Hai Mehshar Ka - 2010
- Tuluh E Fikr - 2010