Biddu - Success in Asia (1980s)

Success in Asia (1980s)

In the late 1970s, Western disco was getting popular in Asia and particularly in India, where there were not yet any home-bred disco stars. It was this reason that led established Indian filmmaker and actor Feroz Khan to England and to Biddu, in 1979. Khan wanted to introduce a catchy song in his upcoming Hindi film, Qurbani, in which the main score of the film was to be legendary Indian music duo, Kalyanji Anandji. Biddu initially wasn't interested in composing a Hindi film song, but later took it up as he would say years later, "I thought it would keep my mum happy (back home in India)". About the same time Khan happened to come across 15 year old Nazia Hassan at a party in London. Khan later requested Hassan have an audition with Biddu. Biddu later signed her up for the song he was composing for Qurbani.

It did not take a long time for Biddu to compose "Aap Jaisa Koi" for Qurbani. The tune and composition he used for "Aap Jaisa Koi" was similar to several of his earlier songs, particularly the 1976 Tina Charles hit "Dance Little Lady Dance". As the girl, Nazia Hassan, had a nasal voice, Biddu decided to backtrack it for an echo effect. The song which was recorded in London, was the first Hindi song to be recorded on 24 tracks. In 1980, Qurbani ran to packed houses in India, largely on the weight of "Aap Jaisa Koi" and another number "Laila O Laila". Nazia Hassan became a teenage sensation. "Aap Jaisa Koi" was a massive hit across the Indian subcontinent.

Riding on the massive popularity of the song and the film, Biddu decided to sign Nazia Hassan and her brother Zoheb Hassan up for a Urdu pop album, something hitherto not tried in India. Biddu modelled them on the then popular American brother-sister duo, The Carpenters. Biddu composed a few catchy numbers for Nazia and Zoheb for the album Disco Deewane. In 1981, the album was a massive hit across Asia, South Africa, and some countries in South America (particularly Brazil where it topped the charts), charting in 14 countries. The album became the best-selling Asian pop album up until that time. The 15 year old teenage Pakistani singer Nazia Hassan became a household name across the South Asian subcontinent as a result and Biddu saw his stars rise across the region. Disco Deewane was followed by the production of three more heavy hitters with Nazia and Zohaib; Star/Boom Boom in 1982 (the number "Boom Boom" from the album and film Star was a big hit), then the album Young Tarang 1984 two years later, before winding up again with the duo in 1987 with Hotline. The duo went on to sell as many as 60 million records worldwide.

Beyond Southern Asia, he also had some success in another part of Asia, the Far East. After having previously had a chart-topping hit in Japan with The Tigers in 1969, he returned there to work with the popular Japanese idol and J-pop singer Akina Nakamori, for whom he produced "Don't Tell Me This is Love" in 1985. It was included in her 1985 album My Best Thanks, which topped the Japanese charts and sold around 300,000 copies. He produced several more hit songs for Akina Nakamori, including the 1987 songs "The Look That Kills" and "Blonde", which became chart-topping hits in Japan. "Blonde" in particular sold over 300,000 copies in Japan that year. He also worked in Hong Kong, where he produced and composed the song "傷心戲院" ("Sad Theater") for C-pop singer Samantha Lam in 1988. In the Philippines, the song "Chic Chica Chic" from his hit 1976 album Rainforest was used as the main theme of the popular 1980s sitcom Chicks to Chicks. In the late 1980s, he returned to the UK music scene with house music records such as "Humanity" (1989).