Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (Punjabi: نصرت فتح علی خان (Shahmukhī)) (October 13, 1948 – August 16, 1997), a world-renowned Pakistani musician, was primarily a singer of Qawwali, the devotional music of the Sufis (a mystical tradition within Islam). Considered one of the greatest singers ever recorded, he possessed a six-octave vocal range^{[citation needed]} and could perform at a high level of intensity for several hours. Extending the 600-year old Qawwali tradition of his family, Khan is widely credited with introducing Sufi music to international audiences. He was popularly known as "Shahenshah-e-Qawwali", meaning "The King of Kings of Qawwali".

Born in Faisalabad, Pakistan, Khan had his first public performance at age of 16, at his father's chelum. He officially became the head of the family qawwali party in 1971, and was signed by Oriental Star Agencies (OSA), Birmingham, U.K., in the early 1980s. In subsequent years, Khan released movie scores and albums for various labels in Pakistan, Europe, Japan and the U.S. He engaged in collaborations and experiments with Western artists, becoming a well-known world music artist in the process. He toured extensively, performing in over 40 countries.

Pathanay Khan (real name: Ghulam Muhammad; 1926 - 2000) was a great Seraiki folk singer from Pakistan. He sang mostly Kafis or Ghazals (in Urdu: غزل), which were largely based on the Sufi poetry of Khwaja Ghulam Farid and Shah Hussain. He was born in 1926 in the village Basti Tambu Wali, situated in the heart of the Thal Desert, several miles from Kot Addu (Punjab).

When he was only a few years old, his father brought his third wife home, so his mother decided to leave his father. She took her son along and went to Kot Addu to stay with her father. When the boy fell seriously ill, his mother took him to a syed's house. The syed's wife looked after him, and advised his mother to change his name because it seemed too heavy for him. Her daughter commented that he looked like Pathana (in that region, a name symbolising love and valour), and so from that day onwards he was known as Pathanay Khan. His mother credited the new name for saving the child's life.

Pathanay Khan was very attached to his mother. She took good care of him and tried to educate him. However, he, like his father Khameesa Khan, spent his time wandering, contemplating and singing. His nature lured him away from school after the seventh standard. He began singing, mostly the Kafis of Khwaja Ghulam Farid, the saint of Bahawalpur. His first teacher was Baba Mir Khan, who taught him everything he knew. Singing alone did not earn him enough, so the young Pathanay Khan started collecting firewood for his mother, who used to make bread for the villagers. This enabled the family to earn a very modest living. It is said that remembering those days brought tears to his eyes and he believed that it was his love for God, music, and Khwaja Farid that gave him strength to bear the burden. Pathanay Khan adopted singing as a profession in earnest after his mother's death. His singing had the capacity to bewitch his listeners, and he could sing for hours on end.