Hadiqa Kiani

Hadiqa Kiani TI(c) (Urdu, ; born 11 August 1972) is a Pakistani singer, songwriter, guitarist, composer, actress, and philanthropist.

She has received numerous local and international awards and has also performed at the Royal Albert Hall and The Kennedy Center.

Besides Urdu and Punjabi, she has also sung several songs in the Pashto language.

In the early 1990s, Kiani came onto TV to host a children's music program called Angan Angan Taray.

In the 3 1⁄2-year-long run, she had sung over one thousand songs for children while hosting the show alongside renowned music composer Amjad Bobby and later on with music composer Khalil Ahmed.

Owing to the sheer number of songs Kiani sang during this program, she was presented with the title of "A+ artist" on behalf of PTV joining the likes of Noor Jehan, Naheed Akhtar, and Mehnaz.

Kiani also appeared as a VJ for a music charts program called Video Junction on NTM.

Kiani began to sing songs as a playback singer for movies in the early 90s, most notably was the hit Pakistani movie called Sargam, which was starring and being composed by Adnan Sami Khan.

The same year, she received various awards for her playback singing including the prestigious Nigar Awards for Best Female Playback Singer.

In 1995, Kiani received the "NTM Viewer's choice award" for the Best Female Singer of Pakistan.

In the same Award show, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was awarded as the Best Male Singer of Pakistan.

The following year, Kiani released her debut album Raaz (Secret) in 1996.

The album spawned a string of radio-friendly hits and received positive reviews.

Some argue that the reason the album did well was because it was not common for female singers (from educated/non-musical backgrounds) to release albums in Pakistan.

Also, she was the first female singer to release a pop album after the former pop singer, Nazia Hassan, gave up her musical career.

Kiani's ability to sing in other dialects was also presented to the country through the hit Kashmiri folk song "Maane Di Mauj."

Her increasing popularity was further highlighted in January 1997, when Kiani became the first Asian singer to perform at the British National Lottery Live on BBC One (a program with an estimated viewership 16.6 million at that time).

Afterwards she worked on two more shows with Bally Sagoo for BBC and ITV before going on her first U.S. tour in 1997.

Her U.S. tour covered 15 states and a few cities in Canada.

The same year Kiani performed many other international events in the United Kingdom, Australia, and China.

By the summer of 1997, Kiani was representing Pakistan as the only Pakistani singer to perform at "Celebration Hong Kong 97" at Happy Valley Race Course, alongside other International singers like Lisa Stansfield, Wet Wet Wet, Michael Learns to Rock, All 4 One and The Brand New Heavies, an event to celebrate Hong Kong's freedom from the United Kingdom.

Kiani is the first mainstream Pakistani singer to ever perform in Hong Kong.

By the end of the year she became the first Asian female singer ever to be signed by Pepsi Cola International.

She was the second international female artist in the world to be signed, the first being Gloria Estefan.

In 1998, Kiani recorded the official theme song for the 1999 Cricket World Cup.

The Pepsi sponsored song was titled Intehai Shauq, written by Kiani's mother, Khawar Kiani, and composed and produced by the famed Nizar Lalani.

The song was filmed by Jami and Imran Baber and proved to be an instant success that captivated the country with what was noted as incredibly motivational imagery and lyrics.

Amidst the World Cup recording, Kiani released her second album, titled Roshni. The third single from the album was Dupatta.

In 2006, Kiani received the fourth-highest Pakistan civilian award, the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, for her contributions to the field of music.

In 2010, she was appointed as a United Nations Development Programme Goodwill Ambassador, making her the first woman in Pakistan to a Goodwill ambassador to the United Nations.

In 2016, Kiani was titled as one "Pakistan's Most Powerful and Influential Women" by the country's leading news group, Jang Group of Newspapers, as part of their "Power" edition.

Kiani was born in Rawalpindi as the youngest of three siblings, her older brother (Irfan Kiani) and sister (Sasha).

Her father died when she was 3 years.

Her mother, poet Khawar Kiani, was the principal of a government girls' school.

Seeing her musical ability, Khawar enlisted Kiani in the Pakistan National Council of the Arts.

She received early education in music from her teacher, Madam Nargis Naheed.

While studying at Viqar-un-Nisa Noon Girls High School, Kiani represented Pakistan at international children festivals in Turkey, Jordan, Bulgaria, and Greece, winning various medals along the way and performing for thousands around the world.

Kiani was also a part of Sohail Rana's children's program Rang Barangi Dunya, a weekly musical on PTV.

As an eighth grader, Kiani moved from her birthplace Rawalpindi to Lahore, where she continued her classical training by Ustad Faiz Ahmed Khan and Wajid Ali Nashad.

Kiani went on to graduate from Pakistan's top institutions, earning her bachelor's degree in Psychology from Kinnaird College for Women University and her Masters in Psychology from the historic Government College University (Lahore).