The Person
Multi-talented Haroon, the famous Asian pop star, is a singer, composer, musician, producer, recording engineer, and exhilarating live performer. His fan following is in the millions. He has sold nearly three million CDs and tapes world wide and the audience at his shows often number in the tens of thousands.
He was born in London on May 11th to a New Zealand mother and Pakistani father. He has lived all over the world. This wealth of experience abroad, along with a bi-cultural family background, has given Haroon a very international perspective of life, and he counts as friends’ people from all over the world. As a person, Haroon could be described as genuine, sincere, and uncompromising in his beliefs and goals, yet soft-spoken and friendly with a great sense of humor.
The Musician
Haroon is an accomplished Guitar player and keyboard player. Haroon has been playing the guitar and composing songs since the age of 13. He formed his first band “Idiosyncracies” in school at the age of 14.
He is most proud of his talents as a song-writer and composer. Over the last 12 years he has composed and recorded some of the biggest hits in Pakistan’s short pop history including songs such as Mr. Fraudiay, Ay Jawan, Main Na Manoo Haar, Jadoo Ka Chiragh, Mahbooba, Mehndi, Dil Se, Pyareya, Yara and many others.
First Big Break
After graduating with a degree in Business Administration from the George Washington Uni, USA in the early 90’s, he promptly formed the band Awaz with a couple of musician friends.
Haroon and the band made a video for ‘Janeman’ (the song Haroon composed at 16) on a shoestring budget of Rs.15, 000/-. They sent the video to local TV stations and record labels. Nobody showed any interest. Says Haroon "They responded by saying ‘stick to your day job.’ but I was stubborn and decided to send it off to MTV Asia to see what happens" The song ‘Janeman’ became the first ever Urdu/Hindi pop song to air on MTV.
During their peak, Awaz was the biggest band in the country, and went on to release three highly successful albums and two big singles between 1993 and 1999, which have collectively sold more than 2,000,000 units worldwide. Awaz was one of the pioneering bands in Pakistani pop music, and their pop accessibility and skilled musicianship influenced and paved the way for many future musicians, singers and bands.
