Renowned singer Khalid no more

Leading band singer and frontman of Chime, Khalid passed away at 7:15 pm today, due to a cardiac-related incident. He was 62 years old at the time of passing. The news was confirmed to The Daily Star by music producer and sound engineer Isha Khan Duray.

According to Duray, he fell ill due to a cardiac arrest at his residence in Panthapath around iftar time (6:10 pm) and was rushed to Green Road's Comfort hospital, where he was declared dead.

Born in Gopalganj, Khalid singing from class 1, inspired by Bhupen Hazarika's "Ganga Amar Ma", "Padma Amar Ma". Since an early age, he started doing live shows at different venues. Chime was one of Bangladesh's first bands, which he started with Ashiquzzaman Tulu, Shawquat Ali Emon and others in 1983. Their first show was in front of 30,000 people in Gulistan, after which they did not have to look back.

"For our first album, I sacrificed the money that was sent from my home for food, for recording," said Khalid, in a previous interview with The Daily Star. "We never compromised on quality. From the very beginning when quality recording instruments were few and far between, we went for the best in our self-titled album."

Khalid is best known for his songs "Shorolotar Protima", "Himaloy", "Kono Karonei", "Tumi Nei Tai", among dozens of other hits during the 90's and 2000's. His major albums with his band Chime are the self-titled "Chime", "Nari", "Jonmo", and "Kirtonkhola".

For the last decade, Khalid had been living in the United States of America, continuing his musical gigs. The singer visited The Daily Star's office in November 2023, where he shared that he was planning on working on more albums very soon.  

Khalid is survived by his wife and son, who live in the USA. He will be laid to rest in his hometown of Gopalganj tonight, after his namaz-e-janaza at 11 pm.