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Mehdi Hasan was born in Luna, a village in the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan in undivided India, to a family of singers who sang in the Hindustani style. By the age of eight, under the guidance of his father Ustad Azeem Khan and uncle Ustad Ismail Khan, Mehdi Hasan was already singing before the Maharaja of Baroda. Later in life as a celebrity, in an interview for Radio Pakistan, Mehdi Hasan remembered singing for the Maharaja of Gwalior at Indore. Following Partition in 1947, 19-year-old Mehdi Hasan migrated with his devastated family to Chichawatni, a village in West Punjab, which lay in Pakistan. A life of poverty had begun. He did not give up his riyaaz; he practised with great dedication, although he went to work as an automobile mechanic in a garage and eventually became the owner of such an establishment. In 1948, through his financial travails, he auditioned for Radio Pakistan as a thumri singer. He began to sing in films and very soon made his mark as a singer with a polished voice and an unbeatable technique.
His rendering of a ghazal by the great revolutionary poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Gulon Mein Rang Bhare, for the 1964 film Farangi launched him into stardom. He soon found himself ploughing a lonely furrow as there was no male light classical singer of his stature in Pakistan or India. The only other male singer in Pakistan who could keep him company was Tufail Niazi, who was classically trained in pre-Partition Kapurthala, in India, but was very successfully pursuing a career as a folk singer. The presence of a major talent like Tufail Niazi, albeit from a different genre of vocal music, perhaps made Mehdi Hasan feel less lonely musically. One, of course, must not forget his very talented composer brother, Pandit Ghulam Qadir. Mehdi Hasan did promote a then-fledgling singer called Ghulam Ali, who later rose to fame and fortune and was the pupil of the incomparable male thumri singer Ustad Barkat Ali Khan (1902-1962), the younger brother of the khayal singer, the mercurial genius, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan (1900-1966). His love of ragas was palpable in ghazals like Qateel Shifais Zindagi Mein To Sabhi Pyar Kiya Karte Hain (Bhimpalas); Faiz Ahmad Faizs Gulon Mein Rang Bhare (Jhinjhoti); Parveen Shakirs Ku Baku Phail Gayee Baat Shanasaiyee Kee (Darbari); Ahmad Farazs Shola Tha Jal Utha Hoon (Kirwani) and Ranjish Hi Sahi (Yaman); and Sahir Hoshiarpuris Mohabbat Karne Wale... (Khamaj). The raga-based ghazal was Mehdi Hasan's forte. He died on June 13, 2012 in Karachi, Pakistan.