Singer Khalid passes away

Khalid, lead singer and frontman of Chime,  passed away at 7:15pm yesterday, due to a cardiac arrest.

He was 62 years old.

Music producer and sound engineer Isha Khan Duray confirmed the news.

He said Khalid suffered a cardiac arrest at his residence in the capital's Panthapath around iftar time (6:10pm) and was rushed to Green Road's Comfort Hospital. He was declared dead upon arrival.

Khalid is best known for his songs "Shorolotar Protima", "Himaloy", "Kono Karonei", "Tumi Nei Tai", among dozens of other hits spanning years between the 80's and 2000's.

Born in Gopalganj in 1962, he showed his vocal prowess when he was just in the first grade, inspired by Bhupen Hazarika's "Ganga Amar Ma".

At a fairly tender age, he began doing live shows for different events.

He was one of the founders of Chime -- one of the pioneering bands in Bangladesh during the 80s.

Beginning the band's journey with Ashiquzzaman Tulu, Shawquat Ali Emon and others, Chime held its first show in 1983 with an audience of 30,000 in Gulistan.

They did not have to look back after that.

In an earlier interview with The Daily Star, Khalid had said, "For our first album, I spent the money that was given to me by my family for food. I used it for recording … We never compromised on quality. From the very beginning, we opted for the best recording instruments for our self-titled album."

His major albums with his band Chime are the self-titled "Chime", "Nari", "Jonmo", and "Kirtonkhola".

For the last decade, Khalid had been living and doing shows in the US.

The singer visited The Daily Star office in November 2023, where he shared that he was planning to work on more albums soon. 

The renowned singer is survived by his wife and son, who are currently in the US.

His namaz-e-janaza was held around 11:00pm, after which his body was sent to his hometown in Gopalganj for burial.