Initial years of Annie’s life
Annie was born in Lahore on 27 March 1987. She came to UK at the age of 6 months. She grew up in East London and later moved to Essex with her parents.
Annie was brought up in a multicultural town. She became a part of the East London Dance Company during her school years.
Annie’s Music Career
Her music career started in late 2005, when Annie, sitting bored at home, started humming a melody. She met a music arranger through a friend, who helped her compose the very simple, yet catchy song “Mahiya.”
Annie was encouraged by family and friends to take it a step further. She got in touch with a record company and preparations for an ordinary video were made.
The video was soon released in Pakistan. With her simple rendition and style of singing, along with catchy lyrics, the song became an instant hit. It started getting ripped from the video to be sold separately.
Mahiya became the most accessed Pakistani pop song on the Internet for in 2005 and 2006.
Awards and honours
Annie won “The Most Wanted Song 2006” viewers choice award at TMA Pakistan, “The Most Wanted Female” 2006 and 2008, “Pride Of Performance” from the 14th August Committee Oslo, Norway and many more awards as her career progressed.
Bollywood cinema moguls Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt expressed their desire to use Annie’s song Mahiya, for their movie “Awarapan,” which consequently gained her more fame and fan following.
After the success of Mahiya, she started working with various charities, raising awareness for education and health. Also within this short span of time, Annie became a household name and endorsed high profile brands, including Pepsi, Telenor and Tony & Guy, becoming the most popular female artist in Pakistan to date.
She has also walked the ramp as a showstopper at the 2010 L’Oreal Karachi fashion week, for BNS couture.
2010 proved to be a lucky year for the star. On 25th November 2010 Annie released her UK Debut single “BE MY BABY” along with the remix of the track done by the UK’s Top DJ Judge Jules.
Along with music her charity work was also recognized when she was appointed to be the Goodwill Ambassador for the International Red Cross on September 23rd, 2010, in Norway, where she raised money with the Red Cross for the flood victims in Pakistan by supporting and contributing in various activities. All the proceeds from her UK debut single “Be My Baby” were donated to the flood victims in Pakistan.
This honour gave her the opportunity to represent Pakistan on an international level.
Success : Collecting laurels
In June 2011, Annie was the first South Asian celebrity to be featured in LOOK, a high-end fashion and celebrity weekly magazine coming out of The UK.
The same month, she launched her café in Lahore, which is located in one of the most popular areas and was an instant hit among the youngsters. AK Lounge continues to grow with the star herself.
She is the first Pakistani Artist to endorse a Label internationally. In August 2011, she signed a contract with Lebara, a telecommunication company, in Norway, for their current campaign. Besides newspapers and billboards, she can be seen on every bus, tube, train and their stations in Norway.
She has collaborated with the famous British – Norwegian boy band “A1″ for a single “Just 3 words” and has performed at the Emmy Awards in Oslo and also at the O2 Academy.
Annie has recorded another new single ” Tujhe Yaad Kiya” produced by the award winning Rishi Rich which released on the 17th October 2013.
We wish her a very best luck for her future in her music career
S. Rasool
