Abdul Jabbar

Mohammad Abdul Jabbar (10 February 1938 – 30 August 2017) was a Bangladeshi singer. He is most widely known for his song "Ore Nil Doriya".

Also "Tumi Ki Dekhechho Kobhu Jiboner Porajoy", "Salam Salam Hajar Salam" and "Joy Bangla, Banglar Joy" were three of his songs which made it to the top 20 all-time Bangla songs in a 2006 survey by the BBC Bangla. He was awarded the Ekushey Padak in 1980 and the Independence Day Award in 1996 by the government of Bangladesh.

Abdul Jabbar was born in Kushtia. He passed SSC in 1956. He first took music lessons from Muhammad Osman in Kushtia and later from Moksed Ali Shai, Lutfel Haque, and Shibkumar Chatterjee in Kolkata. In 1958, lyricist Azizur Rahman helped Abdul Jabbar get listed as an artiste of the radio station. He debuted his playback singing career in 1962 with music director Robin Ghosh. In 1964, he was enlisted as a TV artiste.

In 1969, Abdul Jabbar founded a musical group Bangabandhu Shilpagosthi. On 25 March 1971, he crossed the border into India and gradually joined a host of artistes of the Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra.

After the independence of Bangladesh, he started performing as a film playback singer. In 2008, after a five-decade career of playback singing, he started working on his only album, Kothay Amar Neel Doriya, which was released in 2017. The songs of the album are written by lyricist Md Amirul Islam and composed by Md Golam Sarwar. In the same year, he opened an album with songs on Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The album remains unfinished as Abdul Jabbar fell seriously ill before giving voice to the song titled "Bangabandhu Dekhechi Tomay Dekhechi Muktijuddho", penned by lyricist Amirul Islam.

Abdul Jabbar served as the president of Bangladesh Sangskritik Parishad.

Abdul Jabbar was married to Halima Jabbar. Together they had two sons and one daughter: Mithun Jabbar, Jasmin Jabbar, and Babu Jabbar.

• Bangabandhu Padak (1973)
• Ekushey Padak (1980)
• Independence Day Award (1996)
• Bachsas Awards (2003)
• Citycell-Channel i Music Awards – Lifetime Achievement Award (2011)
• Zahir Raihan Chalachchitra Purashkar
• Mother Teresa Award

Abdul Jabbar was admitted to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) on 1 August 2017 with kidney, cardiovascular, prostate, and other ailments. He was shifted to the intensive care unit (ICU) as his health condition deteriorated. He died on 30 August 2017 at the ICU of the hospital while undergoing treatment.