Legendary playback singer Mubarak Begum passes away

Mumbai: Legendary Bollywood playback singer and ghazal maestro Mubarak Begum Shaikh passed away after a long illness at her residence late on Monday night, a family member said. Known simply as Mubarak Begum, the Rajasthan-born singer was 80. Her funeral shall be held this morning around 11 am at the Oshiwara Muslim Kabrastan, north-west Mumbai suburbs. "She breathed her last around 10 p.m. on Monday night at her Jogeshwari home. She had been ailing and hospitalized frequently since over a year with various health problems," her daughter-in-law Zarina Shaikh said.