Firoza Begum was born in Gopalganj District on 28 July 1930 to the zamindar family of Ratail Ghonaparha.[4] Her parents were Mohammad Ismail and Begum Kowkabunnesa.[3] She became drawn to music in her childhood.[3] She started her career in 1940s.[5]
Firoza Begum first sang in All India Radio while studying in sixth grade. She met the national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam at the age of 10. She became a student of his. In 1942, she recorded her first Islamic song by the gramophone record company HMV in 78 rpm disk format. Since then, 12 LP, 4 EP, 6 CD and more than 20 audio cassette records have been released.[6] She lived in Kolkata from 1954 until she moved to Dhaka in 1967.[3]
Personal life
In 1956, Feroza Begum married Kamal Dasgupta (who converted to Islam before the marriage and took the name Kamal Uddin Ahmed), a singer, composer, and lyricist. Kamal died on 20 July 1974. Two of their three sons, Hamin Ahmed and late Shafin Ahmed are musicians. They are members of the rock band Miles.[3]
Death
Firoza Begum died on 9 September 2014 in Apollo Hospital, Dhaka due to heart and kidney problems.[3]
The 'Feroza Begum Memorial Gold Medal' was introduced from 2016 by Dhaka University. The recipient is selected by a jury board each year from nationally recognised music artists.[9]
On 28 July 2018, Google celebrated Firoza Begum's 88th Birthday with a Google Doodle.[10]
