Islamabad, Oct 5 (IANS): Pakistanis paid rich tributes on the 16th death anniversary of legendary playback singer Masood Rana, who was widely known as "Pakistani Rafi".

The event was observed Tuesday, The Dawn reported Wednesday.

Rana was born into a Rajput landowner family which migrated from Jalandhar in India.

He began his singing career in 1955 on Radio Pakistan and formed a musical group in Karachi in the early 60s with two famous names of showbiz - Nadeem Baig and Akhlaq Ahmed.

Rana made his debut as a playback singer in 1962 when he sang for the film "Inqalab". He became one of the top male singers in Urdu and Punjabi films for more than three decades, the Dawn reported.

He got a major break when renowned actor Saqi introduced him to producer and director Iqbal Shehzad and musician Deebo.

He was popularly seen as Pakistan's answer to India's Mohammad Rafi.

A specialist in singing difficult songs on a very high pitch, he was the first choice of music directors for title and theme songs.

Rana is still the only male singer in Pakistani films to have sung more than 300 songs in Urdu and Punjabi. He recorded music for over 550 films.
Rana died Oct 4, 1995.