Hadiqa Kiani

Hadiqa Kiani grew up shaped by early loss, her father passed away when she was three years old, and she was raised by her mother, the poet Khawar Kiani, a school principal. That upbringing turned into destiny: noticing her daughter's extraordinary talent for music, her mother enrolled her at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts, where she trained under Madam Nargis Naheed. Her career began not in the spotlight of adulthood but in childhood television, she started her TV career hosting a children's program called Angan Angan Taray, singing about 800 songs for kids alongside composer Amjad Bobby. From there she moved into playback singing, with her breakout film work coming via the hit movie Sargam. In 1996, she released her debut album, Raaz, launching a solo career that would define an era of Pakistani pop. Her follow-up, Roshni, became her best-selling album to date, cementing her status as the country's leading female vocalist. She went on to make history repeatedly: she was the first Asian singer to perform at the British National Lottery Live on BBC One, watched by roughly 16.6 million people, and in 2007 became the first Pakistani mainstream artist to release a full English-language album, Rough Cut. Today, Hadiqa Kiani is a Pakistani singer, songwriter, guitarist, actress, and social worker who has won many national and international awards, performing at venues like the Royal Albert Hall in the UK and the Kennedy Center in the USA. Beyond music, she carries a personal story of resilience and compassion — she adopted her son, Naad-e-Ali, in 2005, an earthquake survivor. Three decades on, her voice remains one of Pakistan's most enduring — a blend of tradition and reinvention that helped define modern Pakistani pop.