Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: Singer Zubeen Garg, whose melody kept people of all ages spellbound, is no more. A pall of gloom descended in Assam, the entire Northeast and the country as a whole at the untimely demise of the heartthrob of the masses. His demise marked the end of an era for the music and cultural landscape. Apart from being melodious music, his songs are laden with emotions of people of all ages.
Zubeen Garg went to Singapore to take part in the Northeast India Festival slated to be held from September 19, 2025. He went for a yacht ride today with some friends. The singer suffered a seizure attack while he was swimming. When attempts to resuscitate him failed, he was immediately admitted to the Singapore General Hospital. Despite efforts, the doctors could not save him and declared him dead at 2.30 pm (IST) today.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma and lakhs of his fans are crestfallen at his sudden demise. Tributes to the singer came pouring in from all and sundry.
The Union Ministry of External Affairs has been keeping in touch with its counterpart in Singapore to bring back the singer’s mortal remains to Assam by completing all formalities.
People from all walks of life thronged the singer’s Guwahati residences at Kharguli and Kahilipara today. Across the state, shell-shocked people came out unanimously to pay their tributes to Zubeen at his sudden and untimely death.
Born on November 18, 1972, to Mohini Mohan Barthakur and Ily Barthakur, the boy was named after renowned music composer Zubin Mehta. However, Zubeen used his gotro ‘Garg’ as his surname, instead of ‘Barthakur’.
Zubeen Garg started singing when he was three years old. He learnt singing from his mother. He had his first solo album – Anamika – released in 1992. In mid-1995, Zubeen Garg moved to Mumbai to work in the Bollywood film industry. He gave his voice in several Hindi films. Apart from Assamese, Bengali and Hindi, Garg sang around 38,000 songs in 40 other languages. He bagged the best Filmfare Award as a playback singer for the song ‘Ya Ali’ from the Hindi film ‘Gang Star’ in 2007. In 2009, he bagged the best music direction award for the non-feature film ‘Echos of Silence’. In 2011, he received the honour of guest artiste of the year by the Assam Convention in the United States. He also received numerous other awards.
The singer had his matriculation from Tamulpur Higher Secondary School, higher secondary from Karimganj College, and got admitted to B. Borooah College, Guwahati, for graduation.
The singer tied the knot with Garima Saikia in 2002.
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