[1][2][3] Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan was born in Kasur, of the erstwhile Punjab Province, British India in 1902.

At the age of five, Bade Ghulam began training in vocal music from his uncle Kale Khan, and later from his father.

Though he started his career by singing a few compositions of his late father Ali Baksh Khan and uncle Kale Khan, Bade Ghulam amalgamated the best of three traditions into his own Patiala-Kasur style: Many of his raga expositions were brief, contrary to convention, and, while he agreed that the beauty of classical music lay in leisurely improvisation, he believed that the audience would not appreciate long alaps, particularly considering his tendency towards singing for the masses.

With the help of the Bombay Chief Minister, Morarji Desai, he acquired Indian citizenship and moved to a bungalow at Malabar Hill in Mumbai.

[2][4] He died in Basheer Bagh Palace in Hyderabad on 23 April 1968 after a prolonged illness that had left him partially paralyzed in the last few years of his life.

[11] The main street at Basheerbagh is named Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Marg in his honour.