Runa Laila Biography 
Runa Laila is a Bangladesh singer, associated with Pakistani music apart from a few Bollywood songs, the most notable ones being the songs of Gharonda composed by Jaidev. Runa Laila rendered her voice for the most popular tracks of the film – Do diwane shahar mein (written by Gulzar) and Mujhe Pyar Tumse Nahin Hain (written by Naqsh Lyallpuri). ‘Dama Dam Mast Qalandar’ is her most popular song. Most recently she served as judge on the show Sur Kshetra (2012) – a singing competition between India and Pakistan and that has been aired on both networks.
Laila was born in Sylhet of Bangladesh. Apart from music training, she also learnt Kathak, Bharatanatyam, and Kathakali. She lived in Karachi in the 1960s where she got formal training in music from Piya Rang and Ustad Habibiddin Khan. She first performed live at the age of 6. Her first recorded disc was for the Pakistani movie, Jugnu. She has been influenced a lot by the singing style of Ahmed Rushdi, famous Pakistani playback singer. Her active career started in the 1970s where she started playback singing and stage shows in Pakistan.
As a singer she shot to fame with the songs - Mera babu chhail chhabeela main to nachoon gi, Chupi Chupi Bolo Keu Jene Jabe and Dama dum mast qalandar. 1974 movie ‘Ek se badkar ek’ marked her singing debut in Bollywood. Her songs of Gharonda are immensely popular even now and are known for her distinct voice and singing style. Yet she stayed away from Bollywood. Laila has married three times and she has one daughter. Her sister Dina is also known as a talented singer, though she gave up her musical career after her marriage with Pakistani politician, Makhdoom Amin Fahim.
Published: N/A
Updated: October 27, 2014
