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. Her self-imposed seclusion is remarkable, because during all those decades away from the public eye, her old songs remained popular with the public and not a day passed without at least a couple of songs being played on Vividh Bharati and All India Radio.Р”В«egum's talent was first spotted by her principal when she was in primary school in 1924. Shamshad's family clarified in a press release that this was not so.

In 2004, a controversy erupted in the media, when several publications wrongly reported that Shamshad Begum had died a few years previously. She gradually became a recluse and devoted herself entirely to her grandchildren, to the point that the general public was unaware of whether she was alive or dead. After her husband's death, Shamshad Begum began living with her daughter and son-in-law in Mumbai, first in south Mumbai and later at Hiranandani Gardens. By nature, she preferred to keep away from the public glare and from business dealings, taking the view that it was rather unseemly for a lady to be involved in such things. Indeed, while Shamshad Begum was both an outstanding singer and a successful famous one, she was at some deeper level always a wife and mother first, someone who instinctively prioritised her family over her career. After his death, Shamshad became listless and lost the fighting spirit to pursue her career, which registered a sharp decline thereafter. He had handled many aspects of her career and contracts and had been a major positive energy behind her career progression. His death left Shamshad very distraught, because her husband had been the focus of her life and they had both been extremely devoted to each other. In 1955, Ganpat Lal Batto died in a road accident.

The couple had but one child, a daughter named Usha, who in due course married a Hindu gentleman, Lieutenant Colonel Yogesh Ratra, an officer in the Indian Army. In 1934, despite strenuous opposition from both their families due to religious differences, 15-year-old Shamshad married Ganpat Lal Batto. Their efforts were on the verge of bearing fruit in 1934 when Ganpat Lal Batto and Shamshad made the decision to marry each other. In those days, marriages were performed while the bride and groom were very young, and Shamshad's parents were already looking out for a suitable alliance for her. In 1932, the teenage Shamshad came in contact with Ganpat Lal Batto, a Hindu law student who lived in the same neighbourhood and who was several years older than her. Her father, Mian Hussain Baksh Maan, worked as a mechanic and her mother, Ghulam Fatima, was a pious lady of conservative disposition, a devoted wife and mother who raised her children with traditional family values. She was one of eight children, five sons and three daughters, born to a conservative muslim family of limited means. Shamshad Begum was born in Lahore, British India (present-day Pakistan) on 14 April 1919 the day after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place in nearby Amritsar.

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