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Atif Aslam is a Pakistani musician. He was born in Wazirabad, Gujranwala and educated in Lahore and Rawalpindi.
Aslam started his High School in PAF College Lahore, where he played cricket and became interested in music. He paired with a guitarist named Gohar Mumtaz, and the two performed for their college and at restaurants, later calling themselves "Jal" which means Water.
Working together, the pair recorded the song Aadat. It became popular on different musical websites in Pakistan. The song was also played on such Pakistani radio stations as FM100 and FM105. The music video for Aadat was shot one day in a warehouse in Karachi. Due to personal problems between them, band broke up, and Atif started a solo career.
Atif Aslam, after leaving Jal, released a new solo album, Jal Pari which was a big hit. The Songs Woh Lamhey, Dil Haarey and few others were a smash hit that were played on Pakistani radio stations all around.
Atif Aslam's soulful voice crossed the Pakistani border and reached India when Bollywood director Mahesh Bhatt called Atif Aslam to seek his consent to include "Woh Lamhey" in the soundtrack of his new motion picture, Zeher (2005). The song (especially the remix version) became a huge hit & dominated airplay on almost all major FM stations throughout India for a period of 6-8 months.
There was initially some controversy as some of the songs in Atif Aslam's solo album were songs that had been composed when Atif was still a member of Jal. This has led to widespread controversy and has led to a debate between Atif's fans and fans of the new Jal (which comprises of Gohar Mumtaz, Farhan Saeed, and Shazi), with Atif's fans claiming that he is entitled to these songs as he was also involved in recording them, while Jal fans claim that Atif has stolen the songs from Jal. One fact which is not known to many people is that Atif and Gohar (when they were together) openly said in an interview on a music web site that Aadat was made with the involvement of both Atif and Gohar, in terms of composition as well as lyrics. The group also said in that interview that they thought of the name Jal together.
Now that the band has split up, both the parties claim that the compositions along with the lyrics were owned by each of them, Gohar being more vocal in this claim.
Despite these claims, many people feel that it was Atif Aslam's magical voice that was the reason Jal became so popular. Atif has continued to grow as he has recently been successful in getting further deals from Bollywood. He recently recorded a song for the movie Kalyug. The title of the song is 'Juda Hokey Bhi' which is a slight variation of the ever famous Aadat song. Along with this song, he has also recorded three songs for a Hollywood movie titled 'Man Push Cart'.
Atif is currently working on a new album entitled 'Hangami Halaat' with his new band mates, Mahmood Rehman on guitars and Sameer Shami on bass. The album is due to be released in the summer of 2006.
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