[1] He eventually found some success producing a hit song for Japanese band The Tigers in 1969,[7] scoring the soundtrack for 1972 British film Embassy,[8] and producing several early disco songs that would find a niche audience in British northern soul clubs during the early 1970s.
[3] His international breakthrough came in 1974 with "Kung Fu Fighting" performed by Carl Douglas; the song became one of the best-selling singles of all time with eleven million records sold, helped popularise disco music,[3][7] was the first worldwide disco hit from Britain[8] and Europe,[1] and established Biddu as one of the most prolific dance music producers from outside the United States at the time.
[3] He also launched the careers of other British disco stars such as Tina Charles,[3] helping her sell 36 million records within a few years,[9] and Jimmy James;[8] scored soundtracks for several British films such as The Stud (1978);[1] and produced a hit song for the French singer Claude François.
[10] Biddu also experimented with electronic disco[10] and Hi-NRG music[11][12] from the mid-1970s, and influenced British new wave bands such as The Buggles, founded by two of his former session musicians Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes.
[13][14] Following the decline of disco in the Western world, he later found success in Asia during the 1980s, where he launched the careers of the late Pakistani pop singer Nazia Hassan and her brother Zoheb; he produced their debut album Disco Deewane, which charted in fourteen countries and became the best-selling Asian pop album up until that time,[5] and helped the duo eventually sell 60 million records worldwide.
[2][5] In the 2000s, Biddu has been active in the Western and Indian music scenes producing albums which are more spiritual and Eastern-oriented.
[20] Biddu's family originally hailed from Kodagu in the Karnataka state of India, but he was born and grew up in the city of Bangalore, where he attended the Bishop Cotton Boys' School.
[2] He saved a few pounds before he decided to rent studio time and record several singles, none of which received any airplay from UK radio stations.
[3] Biddu's first major success was in 1969, when he produced the song "Smile for Me", performed by The Tigers, who were Japan's most famous band at the time, and written by Barry and Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees.
Around this time, he also started working with UK-based Jamaican-born musician Carl Douglas on a 45 (rpm record) single "I Want to Give You My Everything".
[26] In 1975, Biddu recorded and released the instrumental LP, Blue Eyed Soul, and the album's first single, "Summer of '42", climbed to No.
[29] Around the same time, a friend introduced Biddu to Tina Charles, a singer who had had some success singing lead vocals for the group 5000 Volts.
[39] His backing tracks also had a strong influence on the British new wave band The Buggles, founded by two of Biddu's former session musicians, Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes, who are most famous for writing the hit song "Video Killed the Radio Star" in 1979.
[13][14] In 1977, he worked on the Life album for the veteran Jamaican-born soul singer Jimmy James, which put out two chart hits "I'll Go Where Your Music Takes Me" and "Disco Fever".
It was this reason that led established Indian filmmaker and actor Feroz Khan to England and to Biddu, in 1979.
Biddu initially was not interested in composing a Hindi film song, but later took it up as he would say years later, "I thought it would keep my mum happy (back home in India)".
As the girl, Nazia Hassan, had a nasal voice, Biddu decided to backtrack it for an echo effect.
After having previously had a chart-topping hit in Japan with The Tigers in 1969,[7] he returned there to work with the popular Japanese idol and J-pop singer Akina Nakamori, for whom he produced "Don't Tell Me This is Love" in 1985.
[45] He also worked in Hong Kong, where he produced and composed the song "傷心戲院" ("Sad Theater") for C-pop singer Samantha Lam in 1988.
[46] Having spent nearly a decade with the Nazia-Zoheb pair, Biddu next turned his attention to Hindi vocalist Shweta Shetty, both writing and producing the Johnny Joker album in 1993.
Chithra, and Sonu Nigam, as well as continuing his collaboration with Alisha Chinai on her Dil Ki Rani album.
Into the new millennium, he produced two hit albums with Sansara, Yeh Dil Sun Raha Hai and Habibi.
His own 1999 album, Eastern Journey, was an experiment which blended Indian pop with Western flair and strong, jazz elements.
Their songs “Yeh Dil Sun raha hai” written by Sophie Choudry and “Habibi” went on to become big hits.
Til date, she credits him with her success saying he discovered her and encouraged her to move to India to pursue her career.