Asif Akbar (born 25 March 1972),[1] commonly known as ASIF, is a Bangladeshi singer.[2] He releases solo, duet, and mixed albums and also songs for Bangladeshi cinema. He received six Meril-Prothom Alo Award and a Bangladesh National Film Award.[3]
Music director Shawkat Ali Emon gave Akbar the first break, and he started performing as a playback singer for films since 1998.[3] Akbar made his break with the track "O Priya Tumi Kothay".[4] His debut album was released on 30 January 2001. He consistently releases solo albums and also duets with singers such as Kavita Krishnamurthy, Kumar Sanu, Bappa Mazumder, Doly Shaontoni, Suzana Ansar, Sonia, Kaniz Suborna, Dinat Jahan Munni, Monir Khan, and many others. He temporarily retired from commercial singing on 17 March 2010 to concentrate on his political career but returned to the Bangladeshi music scene with his solo album titled X Prem released in August 2013.
In June 2018, singer Shafiq Tuhin accused Akbar of selling out digital copies of several songs without permission and filed a case against him with Tejgaon Police Station.[10] Akbar was arrested on 6 June from his studio in the FDC area in Dhaka.[11] Later, a Dhaka court rejected both the remand and bail prayers and ordered to send him to jail.[12] After spending 5 days in jail, Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate granted him bail.[13]
