Salman Ahmad left Lahore, Pakistan, for New York with his family when he was eleven, and received his baptism in rock music when a friend offered him a ticket to a Led Zeppelin concert.

Vital Signs then went on to record their debut album at the EMI Studios in Karachi, but almost all the songs were written and composed at Salman Ahmad's residence where the band had been lodged.

[4] Salman Ahmed recruited singer Ali Azmat from the Jupiters and then the former Vital Signs lead guitarist, Nusrat Hussain, on keyboards for Their self-titled debut album, Junoon.

That year Junoon were courted for the controversial video release of the single "Ehtesaab", from Kashmakash, which included footage of a polo pony eating in a posh restaurant.

It was the release of their third album when Junoon started to gain success and began to reach a wider audience when one of their singles, "Jazba-e-Junoon", became the signature song of the Cricket World Cup.

[2] Following the success of "Inquilaab", in 1997 Junoon went on their first full-scale tour of the United States, performing from Birmingham, Alabama, to Los Angeles where they appeared at the House of Blues and at the New York's Roosevelt Hotel, which was reviewed in the international edition of Newsweek.

The next day, from their hotel room in New Delhi, in interviews to CNN and BBC on the nuclear tests, Junoon's founder Salman Ahmad suggested that the Indian and Pakistani leaders should spend more on education and health than on weapons of mass destruction.

[1] Pakistan's Ministry of Information and Culture formally charged Junoon with challenging "the national opinion on the nuclear tests", as well as making comments in India "amounting to sedition and treason".

[23] On 28 November 1998, Junoon won the "Best International Group" title at the Channel V Music Awards, where they performed along with worldwide icons Sting, The Prodigy and Def Leppard.

In March 1999, the Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in a spirit of cross-border friendship, invited the band to perform at the anniversary of his government in Delhi.

[28][29] At the end of the year, Junoon performed at a concert in Dubai, UAE, with Bollywood singer Sonu Nigam, with nearly 20,000 in attendance, which was organised by Oberoi Middle East Events.

In September, Junoon did a concert in Norway with Morten Harket, lead vocalist of A-ha,[31] performing a duet "Piya (Ocean of Love)".

[40][41] The single "Garaj Baras" was selected as the soundtrack of the Bollywood movie Paap directed by Pooja Bhatt,[42] the song topped the charts in the country again in 2004.

After the release of the band's seventh studio album bassist, Brian O'Connell went back to United States and vocalist, Ali Azmat went on to pursue his career as a solo singer.

In August, Junoon released Ghoom Taana video and a special documentary entitled "Building Bridges" which was screened at a launch ceremony in Karachi in time for the Independence Day celebrations of Pakistan and India.

On 14 October, Journeyman Pictures released a short film documentary based on Pakistani music featuring local rock bands, Junoon and Fuzön.

[44] Since his departure, Pakistani musician Mekaal Hasan and the band's producer John Alec have been playing bass guitar for live shows in place.

On 11 December, Junoon performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway together with a variety of artists, which was broadcast live to over 100 countries.

He has performed at various educational institutions throughout the world, including Oxford, Harvard, Yale, Stanford various times and continues to actively tour and engage college audiences.

[65] On 16 August, in an interview with BBC World Service, Salman Ahmad confirmed that he was writing a song named "Khwab" for the Pakistan flood victims to raise funds for them.

[66] After a few days, it was confirmed that Salman Ahmad will collaborate with Peter Gabriel on the song "Khwab", in an attempt to raise funds for the Pakistan flood victims.

[67] On 25 August, Salman Ahmad talked to Dutch TV about organising a charity concert with various artists to collect money for the flood victims in Pakistan.

The album will be featuring Strings, Farhan Saeed, Bilal Khan, Outlandish, Aag, Usman Riaz, Laal's Taimur Rahman, Momina Mustehsan, and Sajid & Zeeshan.

In response to the 20th Anniversary of the band, former vocalist, Ali Azmat in an interview with Newsweek Pakistan said that he does not want to associate his name with Junoon as there are some personal issues between Salman Ahmad and him.

[83] Salman Ahmed, lead vocalist of the band, confirmed, during his tour to India, in an interview that he has collaborated with singer Sunidhi Chauhan recording two songs, "Yaaron" and "Kaise Bolun", for Vicky Kumar's Bollywood movie, Rhythm.

The song is written by Salman Ahmad and Aania Shah featuring Shahi Hassan on bass, Nusrat Hussain on keyboards and percussions, and vocalist Junaid Jamshed.

The single received mixed reviews from many critics, such as a writer for Dawn reportedly saying that "even the best fall down sometimes"[88] while a piece in The News International said, "'Sayonee', sung by Ali Noor and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan with music directed by Salman Ahmed as Junoon is quite possibly one of the worst songs to have emerged from Coke Studio – not from just this season but in its ten years, the standard has never dropped to this degree until now.

[90] After the release of "Sayonee", Salman Ahmad recomposed the song "Ghoom Taana" for Coke Studio, he revealed to Samaa TV about this recreation, "Ayesha, Eman, Sajar and Simal were at a singing competition where I was a judge in January.

[92] On 25 December 2018, Junoon including Ali Azmat, Salman Ahmad and Brian O Connell reunited after 13 years to a sold-out concert in Karachi, Pakistan at the Moin Khan Academy.

[105] As the band started to gain success after the release of their third studio album Inquilaab, Junoon went on their first full-scale tour of the United States, performing from Birmingham, Alabama, to Los Angeles where the appeared at the House of Blues and from there to New York's Roosevelt Hotel, which featured in Newsweek.