Mohammed Rafi he was born on 24 December 1924, He was an Indian playback singer and one of the most popular and successful singers of the Hindi film industry. Rafi was notable for his voice and versatility; his songs ranged from classical numbers to patriotic songs, sad lamentations to highly romantic numbers, qawwalis to ghazals and bhajans. He was known for his ability to mould his voice to the persona of the actor, lip-syncing the song on screen in the movie. He received six Filmfare Awards and one National Film Award. In 1967, he was honoured with the Padma Shri award by the Government of India. 

Rafi is primarily noted for his songs in Hindi, over which he had a strong command. He sang around 7,405 songs in many languages. He sang in other Indian languages including Konkani, Bhojpuri, Odia, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi, Sindhi, Kannada, Gujarati, Telugu, Magahi, Maithili and Urdu. Apart from Indian languages, he also sang songs in English, Farsi, Arabic, Sinhalese, Creole and Dutch.

Mohammed Rafi died at 10:25 pm on 31 July 1980, following a massive heart attack, aged just 55. His last song was for the movie Aas Paas, which he had recorded with Laxmikant-Pyarelal. The last song of Rafi was "Shaam Phir Kyun Udaas Hai Dost / Tu Kahin Aas Paas Hai Dost", recorded just hours before his death. 

Rafi was buried at the Juhu Muslim cemetery and his burial was one of the largest funeral processions in India as over 10,000 people attended his burial. The government of India announced a two-day public holiday in his honour. In 2010, Rafi's tomb along with many film industry artists such as Madhubala, was demolished to make space for new burials. Fans of Mohammed Rafi, who visit his tomb twice a year to mark his birth and death anniversaries, use the coconut tree that is nearest his grave as a marker.