Biddu

 This guy was an unusual composer and producer of music in England. Born in Bangalore, migrated to England and launched many hits, including Kung Fu Fighting, and albums by Tina Charles among others.

The hit album Disco Deewane launched Nazia Hasan and Zoheb Hasan into an orbit of fame, across India and Pakistan. Around the same time, Feroz Khan used a song by Nazia tuned by him, in the fil Qurbani. That song, Aap jaisa koi meri zindagi mein aaye, to baat ban jaaye, became a rage, along with Laila main laila, both filmed on Zeenat Aman.

He popularised disco as a genre, and left a lasting legacy.

Remembering Nazia Hassan

Nazia Hassan was a great pop singer of the eighties. She sang a number of Hindi songs for film and non-film albums, and all of them were at the top of the charts. She forced Binaca Geet Mala to bring in non-film music in its countdown, if I remember correctly-such was her popularity. Her songs featured in some Hindi films like Qurbani (Aap jaisa koi meri zindagi mein aaye to baat ban jaaye- there was a joke about this song, which used the words baap ban jaaye instead of baat ban jaaye) and Star (Kumar Gaurav starrer) too.

Many of her songs were composed by Biddu, who was an NRI (non-resident Indian) based in London.

Some of the well-known songs were Disco Deewane, Aao na pyar karein, and Boom Boom....you can enjoy some of them at this link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZqawa_lmSo

Stars and Meteors

What happens to stars who suddenly lose steam? Do they turn into meteors- or meteorites? I am talking here of stars in the film or music firmament.

Daler Mehendi, Alisha Chinai, Moon Moon Sen, Navin Nischal, and many more come to mind. Nazia Hassan (whose song has been blatantly copied in a recent film seemingly without credits to her or the music director Biddu), Runa Laila (in India) are some others that vanished without a trace.

Wonder what happens to numerous stars and starlets who play bit roles and then whoosh, nothing. How do they cope with this situation?