KARACHI: A doodle of Nazia Hasan with her flowing hair and dupatta with disco balls of the 1980s glinting appeared on the Google homepage on Tuesday to celebrate the late singer’s 53rd birthday.

“When young Pakistani girls in the 1980s closed their eyes and clutched a pretend mic in their hands, swaying and singing, a major inspiration was Nazia Hassan,” explained Google.

“Nazia, sometimes referred to as the Princess of Pop, was a sensation the likes of which hadn’t been seen in the region in years. Young and graceful, with long flowing hair, she charmed the country by belting out favourite songs ‘Disco Deewane’ and ‘Boom Boom’ alongside her brother Zohaib.”

Born on April 3, 1965 in Karachi, she met London producer Kumar at the age of 15 and recorded a Bollywood hit ‘Aap jaisa koi’ for the 1980’s blockbuster Qurbani starring Feroz Khan, Zeenat Aman and Vinod Khanna. The song catapulted her into stardom and won her a Filmfare award. From there, Nazia and her brother released a number of albums, including Boom Boom in 1982 and Young Tarang in 1984. She was the first Pakistani singer to reach the British charts with her English version of ‘Disco Deewane’, called ‘Dreamer Deewane’.

‘Princess of Pop’ remembered for delivering numerous smash hits during ’80s

Nazia was not only a talented singer, but also a devoted scholar and humanitarian. Using her law degree, she worked at the UN as well as for Unicef. She was passionate about the rights of young people, and often took the time to visit impoverished schools in Pakistan. Her life was tragically cut short by lung cancer at the age of 35.

“It is really exciting when something like this is celebrated. Particularly, Nazia, who represents something interesting in our pop history. She is someone who represents modern Pakistani pop and yet also remains its timeless example. Her work remains relevant today musically and culturally,” said Ahmer Naqvi, COO of Patari, Pakistan’s largest music streaming service.

Singer Zoey Vicaji, who grew up listening to the late singer, said it made her really happy to see Nazia on Google’s homepage.

“She is someone that I love, that Pakistan loves, who is being celebrated on an international level. Her music adds so much to my shows. To this day I still sing Nazia Hasan songs such as ‘Boom boom’, ‘Disco Deewane’ and ‘Aap Jaisa Koi’. These songs are still very much loved,” she said.

Besides Pakistan, the doodle’s reach covered all of North America, Iceland, Australia and New Zealand.

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2018