Zakir Hussain (Musician) Age, Death, Wife, Children, Family, Biography

Bio
Full Name	Zakir Hussain Qureshi
Profession	Indian Classical Musician (Tabla Maestro)
Physical Stats & More
Height (approx.)	in centimeters- 170 cm in meters- 1.70 m in feet inches- 5’ 7”
Weight (approx.)	in kilograms- 70 kg in pounds- 154 lbs
Eye Colour	Black
Hair Colour	Black
Music
Popular Soundtrack(s)	1979: Apocalypse Now (1979) 1993: In Custody and Little Buddha 1998: Saaz 1999: Vanaprastham 2001: The Mystic Masseur 2002: Mr. and Mrs. Iyer 2003: One Dollar Curry
Award & Recognition(s)	1998: Padma Shri 2002: Padma Bhushan 1990: Indo-American Award and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award 1999: National Heritage Fellowship of National Endowment for the Arts from Hillary Clinton 2005: Old Dominion Fellow by the Humanities Council at Princeton University for being a full time Professor in the music department 2006: Kalidas Samman 2009: 51st Grammy Award 2023: Padma Vibhushan [1]The Hindu
Personal Life
Date of Birth	9 March 1951 (Friday)
Birthplace	Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Date of Death	Source 1: 15 December 2024 [2]The Guardian Source 2: 16 December 2024 [3]India Today
Place of Death	San Francisco, California, United States
Age (at the time of death)	73 Years
Death Cause	Complications from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (a heart related ailment)
Zodiac sign	Pisces
Nationality	Indian
Hometown	Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Address	San Francisco, California, United States
School	St. Michael's High School, Mahim, Maharashtra, India
College/ University	St. Xavier's, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India University of Washington, U.S.A
Educational Qualification(s)	Graduate PhD (Music)
Family	Father- Alla Rakha (legendary tabla player) Mother- Bavi Begum Brothers- Taufiq Qureshi and Fazal Qureshi Sister- Not Known
Religion	Islam
Hobbies	Writing & Playing Instruments
Favourites
Food	Maharashtrian cuisines, Punjabi Cuisines & Continental Cuisines
Actor(s)	Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Rishi Kapoor
Actresses	Rekha, Vidya Balan, Sharmila Tagore
Singer(s)	Lata Mangeshkar, Pandit Jasraj, A.R. Rahman
Girls, Affairs and More
Marital Status (at the time of death)	Married
Wife/Spouse	Antonia Minnecola
Marriage Date	Year 1978
Children	Son- None Daughters- Anisa Qureshi and Isabella Qureshi
Money Factor
Salary (as an event performer)	6 lacs/show (INR)
Net Worth (Approx.)	5-6 Crores INR

Some Lesser Known Facts About Zakir Hussain

• Zakir Hussain was a genius student since his childhood. His father, Ustad Alla Rakha, was a legendary Tabla Player and started teaching him Pakhawaj when he was three years old.

• He performed with many legendary maestros of music such as Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Vilayat Khan, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, Pandit VG Jog, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Jasraj, and many more.

• In his early twenties, he attained the peak of his popularity and started visiting the United States frequently and he had performed more than 150 concerts per year

• His wife is also a professional Kathak dancer and a dance teacher. She had also been his manager for a long time.

• He had greatly contributed to raising the status of the Tabla players in society, which earlier considered playing the Tabla as the most contemptuous art.

• He also collaborated with great artists such as Grateful Dead and Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane and once, with these artists, he played a jam session for four days while tripping on banned substances.

•  He got associated with violinist L. Shankar, guitarist John McLaughlin, mridangam player Ramnad Raghavan, and legendary ghatam player Vikku Vinayakram and formed a fusion group named ‘Shakti’, and on the 20th anniversary of this group, he introduced the world with the second version of the group named as ‘ Remember Shakti’, which accompanied artists like U. Srinivas, T.V. Selvaganesh, and Shankar Mahadevan.

• Mickey Hart of ‘Grateful Dead’, invited Zakir Hussain to create a special album called Global Planet Drum Project, which featured legendary musicians from different parts of the world. This albumwas  released in 1991 on the Rykodisc label and went on to earn the 1992 Grammy Award for Best World Music Album, which is the first Grammy ever awarded in this category.

• He also starred in several documentaries such as  Zakir and His Friends, The Speaking Hand: Zakir Hussain, and the Art of the Indian Drum and also co-starred in the film Heat and Dust.

• In 2016, Zakir Hussain was amongst a few legendary musicians, who were invited by President Obama for the ‘All-Star Global Concert’ at the White House.

• He was a founding member of  ‘The World Music Supergroup’ and also a visiting professor at Stanford University in the Department of Music.

• The band Remember Shakti won the Best Global Music Album award for ‘This Moment’ at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2024.
  

  Zakir Hussain, along with other band members, at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards

• Here is the video of the interview, in which Simi Garewal is unveiling the life pages of  Zakir Hussain and his wife.

• In November 2024, Zakir was admitted to a hospital after complaining of heart ailments. Thereafter, he was shifted to the ICU after his condition worsened.

• On 15 December 2024, news began circulating that Zakir had passed away; however, the family and his publicist refuted the claims. On 16 December 2024, his family formally announced his passing.