The world bid farewell to one of its best musical stars, Ustad Rashid Khan, a legendary singer of Hindustani classical music who passed away on Tuesday, in Kolkata.

55-year-old Rashid was battling with cancer for years and shifted to a ventilator, but it couldn’t help him to live. He breathed his last at Kolkata’s private hospital, leaving a void in classic music’s world.

Ustad Rashid was born in Uttar Pradesh’s Budaun in India. He was a great-grandson of Ustad Inayat Hussain Khan, the founder of the Rampur Sehaswan gharana.

His unwavering journey in music started at a very early age and he emerged as a star of classical music after the first concert he performed at the age of 7.

At the age of 10, Rashid moved to the ITC Sangeet Research Academy in Kolkata. Over the year, he not only mastered full-throat singing but also took a strong grip on music.

His contributions to the world of music were recognized with numerous awards, including the prestigious Padma Shri in 2006 and the Global Indian Music Academy Awards (GIMA) in 2010.