[4][5][6][7][8][9] Together with his younger brother, Ustad Bade Fateh Ali Khan (1935 – 2017), he formed a famed singing duo that garnered widespread popularity across the Indian subcontinent.

[6] Both brothers made their public singing debut in 1945 in Lahore, at a concert sponsored by an influential music patron, Pandit Jeevanlal Matoo.

[10][11] Khan was a prolific performer on PTV and Radio Pakistan[3][10][17] and was one of the few vocalists in the 1960s and 1970s to gain popularity and critical acclaim for both classical and ghazal formats of singing.

"[30][31][32] Along with composers such as Sohail Rana and Mian Shehryar, Khan is credited with recognising "the necessity of establishing simple-to-grasp anthems that would augment the national morale of the masses"[32] and for incorporating literary knowledge into his work.

[9][34] Khan died of a ruptured appendix[35] at the relatively young age of 52[17][18][36][37] in Lahore, Pakistan on 18 September 1974,[1][3][11] only a few months after the death of his father, Akhtar Hussain.

[35] One of his sons, Asad Amanat Ali Khan (1955 – 2007), after a highly successful career as a classical vocalist and ghazal singer, died from cardiac arrest on 8 April 2007 in London, United Kingdom.