Kashif Saleem (born Michael Jones; December 26, 1956 – September 25, 2016)[1][2] was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer from New York City.

[5] Together with Stevie Wonder, he was considered a pioneer in urban music thanks to his specific synthesizer technology approach and the introduction of MIDI in his production.

[5] Kashif was born Michael Jones[6] on December 26, 1956 (Some media outlets list his birth year as 1959),[4][7] in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City.

Seeking a more challenging musical assignment in 1978, Kashif exited B. T. Express and landed a job as a keyboardist for R&B musician Stephanie Mills.

[4] With this release, Kashif was well received as an innovator in music, as R&B artists were only beginning to experiment with synthesizers and other electronic instruments.

[5] Kashif's Grammy nominations are for the instrumentals "The Mood", "Call Me Tonight", "Edgartown Groove" featuring Al Jarreau.

Kashif also produced and was her duet partner on "Thinking About You",[5] a single track from Houston's 17-million selling (30 million until current day) debut album.

Kashif also produced "Where You Are" on Houston's second project, the result, a 15-million selling (25 million until current day) album entitled Whitney.

Between 1987 and 1989, Kashif continued to churn out the hits for Jermaine Jackson, The Stylistics, Melba Moore, George Benson, Stacy Lattisaw, and many others.