Begum said in an interview, 'I sang Bahadur Shah Zafar's (the poet-ruler) ghazal Mera yaar mujhe mile agar.' An impressed Haider gave her a contract for twelve songs, with facilities provided to top singers. In 1931, when she was twelve(16), her uncle, who enjoyed qawwalis and ghazals, secretly took her to Jenophone (or Xenophone) Music Company for an audition with Lahore-based musician and composer, Ghulam Haider.

Her singing ambitions, which she held from 1929, met with opposition from her family. At 10, she started singing folk-based songs at religious functions and family marriages. Impressed by the quality of her voice, she was made head singer of classroom prayer. Career 1924вЂ“40Д«egum's talent was first spotted by her principal when she was in primary school in 1924. ДЄt around 2004, a controversy erupted in the media, when several publications gave the false news of her death, before it was clarified that the Shamshad Begum who had died in 1998 was Saira Banu's grandmother with the same name. Since her husband's death, Begum lived with her daughter and son-in-law in Mumbai, recently at Hiranandani Gardens in the Powai district. Begum's husband died in 1955 in an accident.

She had one daughter, Usha Ratra, who is married to Lieutenant Colonel Yogesh Ratra. She fell in love with Ganpat Lal Batto, a lawyer, in 1932 and, despite family objections, married him at the age of 15 in 1934. Her father was Miya Hussain Baksh worked as a mechanic and her mother was extremely conservative. Begum was born in Lahore on 14 April 1919, the day after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in a Muslim family and had seven siblings.

Song shamshad begum