Junaid, a revolutionary pop singer
ISLAMABAD: Junaid Jamshed, a pioneer of Pakistani pop who renounced music to become a Muslim evangelist and started one of the country’s most successful clothing boutiques was among 47 people killed in a plane crash on Wednesday.
He died alongside his second wife, Nahya, and is survived by his first wife Ayesha as well as four children.
Born in Karachi on September 3, 1964, he shot to fame in the late 1980s as lead singer of the boy band ‘Vital Signs’, where his dashing looks and brooding vocals made him a style icon and heart-throb.
The band’s fusion of Western guitardriven pop set to traditional Tabla beats inspired a new genre — Sufi Rock — that is hugely popular throughout South Asia today.
Their greatest hit, ‘Dil Dil Pakistan’, an upbeat ode to the homeland with a synthesizer-heavy 1980s sound, remains an unofficial national anthem.
Many of his biggest fans became critics when in the early 2000s he left his career in pop to become a member of the Tableeghi Jamaaat, an evangelical group.
Jamshed ditched his leather jackets and stone-washed jeans for traditional tunic and baggy trousers, grew a beard, and began recording religious ‘Naats’ — hymns that are sung a capello.
Pakistani progressives’ disappointment only grew as Jamshed made a series of controversial statements, often targeting women, including famously telling a female TV host that women should not be allowed to drive or leave the home without male guardians.
But his new guise also endeared him to religious conservatives who followed his TV appearances closely and regarded him as a role-model for leaving a decadent lifestyle behind.
In addition to his preaching, Jamshed set up a upmarket clothing boutique in 2002, a highly profitable business that today boasts a strong presence across the country.
In his last tweet, Jamshed posted pictures of himself with fellow preachers in scenic northern Chitral, from where the ill-fated Pakistan International Airlines flight 661 made its final journey.
“Heaven on Earth Chitral. With my friends in the Path of Allah,” he tweeted.
His death was mourned by clerics, politicians and music fans.
“Gutted by reports of JJ’s untimely demise. His voice expressed the emotions of a whole generation in the 1990s. RIP,” tweeted cultural critic Nadeem Farooq Paracha. — AFP