Shehzad Roy

Shehzad Roy (Urdu: شہزاد رائے) is a singer and humanitarian from Karachi, Pakistan. With five hit albums under his belt, including the 2008 Qismat Apney Haath Mein (Fate Lies in One’s Own Hands), he is also the president and founder of Zindagi Trust, a non-profit charitable organization, that seeks to educate the underprivileged children of Pakistan. In June 2004, Roy was honored as one of the youngest ever recipient of the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, which is one of the highest Civil Honors awarded in Pakistan for excellence in serving humanity. For his organization’s earthquake rehabilitation in Kashmir, he was awarded the Sitara-e-Eisaar. He was also selected to be a torch bearer for the 2008 Olympic Torch relay as the pride of Pakistan. Recently, Roy took the city of Chicago by storm when he was awarded the 2009 Patricia Blunt Koldyke Fellowship award for excellence in social entrepreneurship. Biography Roy was born on February 16, 1977 in Karachi, Pakistan. He made his debut in music in 1995 with his first album Zindagi. At the time, he was only in grade 11. Even though he went on to get a Bachelors in Commerce, it was clear to him that music was going to be his career. From a young age, he was struck by the huge class divide in Pakistan's society. When his cousins would visit from overseas, they would ask him why the street children were not in school studying. Roy of course did not have an answer. It pained him to see these young children who had no future and who were never going to break free of poverty. Determined to help these children, he established a non- government organization, Zindagi Trust, in 2002. The organization's objective was to provide quality education to the underprivileged children of Pakistan. Albums * Zindagi (1995) * Darshan (1997) * Teri Soorat (1999) * Rab Jaanay (2002) * Buri Baat Hai (2005) * Qismat Apney Haath Mein (2008) Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.