Islamabad: Pakistanis are celebrating the birth anniversary of the country's original pop diva Nazia Hasan, who won the hearts of millions with her hit single "Aap Jaisa Koi Meri Zindagi Main Aye", in the early 1980s. Hasan, who shot to fame as a teen, died of cancer eight years ago at the age of 35,leaving behind a three-year-old son.

The singer, who had the looks to match her voice, shot to fame when she met British-Indian composer Biddu in London where she grew up. Biddu introduced her to Feroz Khan who was making "Qurbani" and with the huge success of "Aap Jaisa Koi' began Hasan's musical adventure.

Recorded in England when Hasan was only 13, the song was an upbeat blend of the East and the West. Hasan, who had a thin voice with a nasal twang, later tied up with her younger brother Zoheb and produced three albums, all of which were stupendous hits. In her later years, Hasan sang about issues such as drugs that had plagued millions of youth worldwide. She also sang for another Bollywood hit "Disco Deewanee" in 1981. Her hit single "Disco Deewane" is still a must at all dance parties.

The brother-sister duo released their first album "Young Tarang" - in Pakistan in the 1980s. It was followed by two more which made their popularity soar. Their last album "Camera Camera" was released in the early 1990s.

Hasan's disco songs "Lekin mera dil" and "Laila o Laila", which feature a neat orchestra arrangement on a disco beat, have a silken feel to it and a timeless appeal. In the 1990s, Biddu remixed a couple of her tracks with new beats and put them on TV music channels. Hasan, who had a London University law degree, did a short stint as a political analyst for the United Nations in the US. But she had to give up her job because of her illness which ultimately took her life.

Her parents Muniza and Basir and brother Zoheb set up the Nazia Hasan Foundation in 2003 in her memory and it works to promote harmony and peace amongst communities and encourages the fusion of values and ideas of the East and the West.