Singer Shammi Akhtar no more

Shammi Akhtar
Shammi Akhtar

Celebrated singer Shammi Akhtar is no more. She was 60.

The singer breathed her last around 4:00pm on Tuesday afternoon while she was being rushed to a hospital from her Chamelibag residence, said her family members.

''She had been suffering from breast cancer for six years. As her condition deteriorated today, Tuesday, she was being taken to the BIRDEM Hospital, but she died on her way to the hospital,'' Shammi's husband Akramul Islam told Prothom Alo.

Her first namaz-e-janaza will be held at the Shantinagar Aminbag Mosque after Zuhr prayers and then, she will be buried in Shahjahanpur graveyard, he added. 

She has left behind her husband, a son and a host of fans, friends, relatives and well-wishers to mourn her death.

A playback singer of more than 300 films, Shammi won the hearts of music-aficionados with popular numbers like 'Dhaka shahar aisha amar', 'Ami tomar badhu', 'Mone bara asha chhila', 'Ami jemoa achhi', 'Banglar maati', 'Bidesh giye', 'Soite pari na', 'Jhilmil', 'Amar maner bedona', 'Phuley phuley basa' and 'Ei raat bale' and many others.

She won the Bangladesh National Film Award in 2010 as a playback singer for her song, 'Bhalobashlei sabar sathey ghar bandha jaay na' of film 'Bhalobashlei Ghar Bandha Jaaay Na'.