Hali was born to Abdus Sobhan and Gultaj Khatun, in Rashidabad; in the Patiya region within the Chittagong district in 1929.

From an early age, he was inspired by the works of historically remarkable singer-songwriter Askar Ali Pandit, and latterly became influenced by the Maizbhanderi Sufi Singers, such as Moulana Bazlul Karim Kanchanpuri, Moulana Abdul Hadi, and Ramesh Shil.

Once in 1955/56 while singing at Maizbhander Dorbar Sharif, Hali saw huge money over his harmonium, listeners have given out of love, which was his first income as an artist.

Film maker Shaybal Chawdhury created this 39-minute-long documentary representing Hali as an ideal rural artist.

Famous contemporary singers like Shyam Sundar Bhaishnav, Shefali Gosh,[3] Kallyani Ghosh, Abdul Mannan Rana, Selim Nizami and many others re-performed his songs in that documentary.

[3] Professor Hans Harder[8][page needed] of Heidelberg University, Germany visited different places in Bangladesh including Maizbhander of Chittagong in 1989 and the reason how, he met Abdul Gafur Hali through another popular singer Kolyani Ghosh.

[1][9] As well, an album entitled, Foreign Beloved (Bengali: বন্ধু পরবাসী) produced by Indian Music director Koustob Sen Varat, was dedicated to Abdul Gafur Hali.