Mahmood Khan
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Mahmood Khan is a singer/song writer, sound engineer,music producer and a Film maker and is the only Pakistani Artist to have scored a number one song on Main stream Australian charts. Born in Lahore, Pakistan he took deep interest in music at an early age. By 7 he was playing the piano and guitar and by 13 he was writing original songs. The song writing is what brought on the passion to explore the music field in great depths.
After moving to Los Angeles in the late 80's he started his first job as a second engineer in a Black music Production house called 'Jam power'. He worked at Jam Power for 12 years and was promoted to chief sound engineer and music producer. He also developed his song writing and won a few song writing contests in Hollywood. He developed his voice and went through the Seth Riggz voice training. He also learned about the music industry and was involved in numerous productions for other developing artists.
In 1995 he released his first solo album in the US called 'Fairytale' on his self owned record label. The album did not sell much but was noticed by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan who in 1997 approached him to collaborate on an album.
The result was Mahmood's second solo album called 'Only One' and it featured performances by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Mahmood was also the vocalist, writer, producer and sound engineer on this project. This is known to be the last recording/collaboration of Nusrat fateh Ali Khan.
The album was released worldwide in 1997 by Industry legend Jay Warsinske's record label 'Solid Records' and by Magna Sound in India. The song 'Teri Yaad' and 'Janeman' became smash hits and brought Mahmood's work to hundreds of radio stations in the US and mainstream Tv stations across Asia. The songs were also placed in Sanjay Dutt's Hit film 'Kartoos'.
Next up was album 'Panah' for Magna Sound India and album 'Alive' for vanilla music based in Dubai. The sound from these albums did not have a strong commercial impact and was considered 'Ahead of its time'.
During his visit to Pakistan in 2000 he produced his first film clip which was a video to his song 'Tere Baghair'. It was aired on Pakistan's National Television. The success and notability of the work sparked the film making passion within him and soon he went on to produce and direct several music videos including the 9/11 song 'Enuff Misfortune' and 'Kissi Manzil per', the song for Sadiq Public School, Bahalwalpur, as a token of love and appreciation because he attanted there from grade 1-11.
In 2004 he was hired by the Government of Pakistan to write the music for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 9th SAF games. During this time he also crafted the sound for his Eastern band and developed a new music genre now known as 'Modern Funk' and 'Mahmood Khan Funk/MKF'.
In 2007, to explore film making he moved to Australia and studied at Sydney Film School. Australia turned out to be an excellent move and by 2009 he had not only graduated from the film school but also recorded a Live album at the prestigious Sydney Opera House. The song 'Like the River' from this recording went on to become number one on mainstream Australian Pop charts.
He also recorded a song and produced/directed the video for the Red Cross with 40 Australian artists. This song was called 'We could be paradise'.
In Jan 2010 he was asked to represent Pakistan and sing the National Anthem at the Sydney cricket ground to start the test match between Australia and Pakistan.
In early 2011 he performed Live on Australian TV to celebrate 50 Million views on his Youtube Channels. This was the first time in Australian music history that a Pakistani Artist performed Live on National Television.
Later in the year he was recognized by the Australian government as 'Distinguished Talent'.
Mahmood is known to have been inspired by the works of Barry Gibb, Mutt Lange, John Farrar, Karl Richardson, Maurice Gibb, Arif Mardin and Aziz Mian Qawal and his favorite comedian is George Carlin.
He also admires the philosophical works of Khalil Gibran.
Hungarian Film maker Zsolt Nagy has directed an inspiring documentary on Mahmood Khan's life in Australia called ' Journey of a new sound'. This documentary represents the story of the under dog and proves that under extreme pressure the human spirit is able to beat the odds.
Mahmood is currently working on his first feature film 'Labrador' in collaboration with ' The Showdown staging Company' based in Los Angeles. Labrador is a story of personification of virtues. Mahmood is the writer, director, producer and music director for the film. The screen play is being written by Flip Kobler who is known for writing 'Lion King2' and 'Beauty and the Beast'.
