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Ahmed Rushdi was a versatile Pakistani playback singer and was "an important contributor to the golden age of Pakistani film music." Regarded as one of the greatest singers in South Asia who could sing high tenor notes with ease, he is best known for his versatility and distinctive voice, with complex and dark emotional expressions. Considered as the first pop singer of South Asia, he sang South Asia's first pop song, "Ko Ko Korina", in the 1966 film Armaan. Born in Hyderabad Deccan, he migrated to Pakistan following partition. In 1954, he recorded the official National anthem of Pakistan with several other singers. Rushdi has recorded the highest number of film songs in the history of Pakistani cinema in Urdu, English, Punjabi, Bengali, Sindhi and Gujarati and found unprecedented success as a playback artist from the mid-1950s to early 1980s. He was also known for his stage performance. He suffered from poor health during the latter part of his life and died of a heart attack at the age of 48, after recording approximately five thousand film songs for 583 released films. Besides popular music, Rushdi also helped popularize the ghazals of Naseer Turabi. He was awarded five Nigar Awards, the "Best Singer Of The Millennium" title, "Life Time Achievement Award", "Legend Award" and Lux Style Award. In 2003, 20 years after his death, Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf awarded him the Sitara-e-Imtiaz, the "star of excellence", for distinguished merit in the field of arts. According to the 2016 survey of Asian Woman Magazine, Rushdi is declared as a darling singer of all time. In 2022, his song Ko Ko Korina featured in the opening scene of American series Ms. Marvel (miniseries) and won top ratings.