A gifted up and coming shining star in the world of music, a brilliant performer, singer and all around artist, Jeffrey Iqbal began his musical career at the very young age of 10. Born in the United States Jeffrey’s parents quickly recognized his affinity for music and immediately put him under the tutelage of Ustad Hamid Hossain, and Ustad Shafiqur Rahman. Quickly Jeffrey garnered for himself a keen understanding of North Indian Classical vocal as well as instrumental, becoming very skilled with the harmonium and dexterous on Tabla. But Jeffrey’s ardor clearly laid in vocal and therefore he was able to quickly expand his classical training to include Ghazals, Qawali’s, as well as Bollywood music into his repertoire.
At age 15, Jeffrey had already opened for such artists as International Ghazal singers Tahira Sayed, Ghulam Abbas and the pioneer of Pakistani pop music, Alamgir. Even though throughout the years, Jeffrey has performed on many stages and has collected many awards in competitions, all this was just the beginning.
In 2007 Jeffrey, still continuing his pursuit in the endeavor of constantly learning and growing in his art, was recognized by one of India’s most well known music directors. A Golden Globe award winner and two time Academy award winner in 2009 for Slum Dog Millionaire, AR Rahman. After a televised talent hunt on Sahara One, Jeffrey was selected to sing with Rahman on his 3rd Dimensional tour where he also shared the stage with some of the biggest names in the South Asian music industry such as Hariharan, Sukhwinder Singh, Chitra and SujataMadhushree, just to name a few.
Where most other young artists could capitalize on their brief exposure to fame, Jeffrey only worked harder, reached further and fought all the more passionately and his dedication paid off when he was selected as a participant in Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2008 USA which aired on Zee TV USA. The show was the perfect platform in which Jeffrey was able to prove to the world of what he was truly capable of by leading the males in competition and ultimately receiving the much coveted 1st runner up position in overall ranking. Hand selected by vocal genius Suresh Wadkar and Music director AadeshShrivastava as a representative of the United States to participate in the international competition of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2009 in India, Jeffrey soon joined an impressive group of individuals chosen from all around the world to compete on one of the most challenging stages in the South Asian music scene, which was to be seen in 132 countries around the globe.
Jeffrey’s guru’s, four of the biggest names in the music world who produce some of the finest music in Bollywood, during Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2009 were prominent music directors Shanker Mahadevan, Himesh Reshammiya, Pritam, and Aadesh Shrivastava. Even the legendary Asha Bhosle had no other words for Jeffrey’s performances than
He has a beautiful voice, great vocal style, and unique vocal quality. I really enjoyed his singing.
Jeffrey is currently learning from Pundit Ajay Jha in North Indian classical vocal and as also begun training in western classical vocal to broaden his musical horizons. Working on his debut album scheduled to release early 2010, Jeffrey is ready to give the world his original music.
