press bio

Qurram Hussain, often called ‘Q’, is a Canadian musician of Pakistani descent and the lead vocalist, song writer and the brains behind the music of JoSH, a Canada-based South Asian fusion band, that has produced four award-winning music albums and released 21 music videos internationally, with all of them reaching Top 5 on music charts world-wide.

The Canadian singer has created tracks with Nelly Furtado, Priyanka Chopra, Pitbull, DJ Domeno, Apache Indian, Karl Wolf, Sukhbir Singh, Shafqat Ammanat Ali Khan and Komal Rizvi, as well as performing in 150 cities of the world.

Hussain has been brand ambassador for McDonalds, Nokia and Samsung. His jingles “Samsung Core Lay”, “Dil Mein Chumkay” and “Zara Josh Pakar” are featured in Samsung television commercials.

‘Q’ is also a Gibson artist and has been featured in Coke Studio and Cornetto Pop Rock.

'Q' has been signed to various labels including Universal Music India, EMI UAE, Sony BMG, Tips Music India, VIP Records UK and Awesome Music Canada throughout his international career.

AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS:

First Artist (JoSH) to ever win MTV India and MTV Pakistan "Best New Artist" award in the same year

First South Asian Artist (JoSH) to perform the National Anthem and perform at the halftime show at the NBA

Winner of the Kesri Award for invaluable contribution to the South Asian Community

Awarded the Certificate of Merit from the Prime Minister of Canada

Winner of Best Bhangra Artist at the Bollywood Music Awards

Winner of Most Sexy and Successful Award from Anokhi Vibe

First International Artist to perform for Coke Studio Pakistan

First artist to ever release an album in collaboration with McDonald's

First artist to sign a promotional deal with Nokia

One of 4 Brand Ambassadors for Samsung worldwide

Winner of Anokhi Band of the Decade Award

First South Asian Band (JoSH) to be featured in an ad campaign for Samsung Canada

First South Asian Artist to be signed with Chris Smith Management

Q's "Desan da Raja" becomes the 4th most watch video for Google Pakistan

DISCOGRAPHY:

The Canadian singer began his professional musical journey with JoSH in the late 90s. Gaining exposure with the South Asian audiences back in Montreal, JoSH became extremely popular amongst South Asians worldwide.

Q’s musical interests include various genres such as Rock, R&B, Hip Hop, Drum n’ Bass (à la Talvin Singh), and Qawwali.

Q's varied influences gave birth to one of his first compositions for JoSH, “Main Hoon Tanha”, which also ended up being the title track for JoSH’s extremely successful debut album. That spark got the creative juices flowing, and ‘Q” was able to explore more ideas, eventually ending up with 8 songs that defined JoSH’s, “Main Hoon Tanha“.

Hussain, since then, has been busy experimenting with different musical equipment along with music genres.

MUSIC Director, Composer, Lyricist, Singer, Songwriter, Guitarist, Keyboardist – JoSH Albums:

Mein Hoon Tanha

Kabhi

Mausam

Beyond Kismat

DRAMA SCORE – MANGOES:

Qurram Hussain did the score for the multilingual drama series, Mangoes.

The first two seasons of Mangoes had already received overwhelming response from South Asian audiences throughout the world.

The most recent season of Mangoes was picked up by OMNI TV (part of the Rogers network in Canada), which has always been at the forefront of multicultural programming, and has become a voice of diversity and inclusion in North America.

MUSIC DIRECTOR – RANGREZA:

In 2017, ‘Q’ became a music director of  Pakistani musical romance film, Rangreza. Film’s cast includes Bilal Ashraf, Gohar Rasheed and Urwa Hocane. About Qurram’s song Janasheen, Daily Times critic writes that “Just when we were taking 'Rashke Qamar' off our stereos, having listened to it on repeat throughout the autumn season, Qurram Hussain of the band JoSH, has now come up with a spectacular Qawwali under his auspices as the music director for ‘Rangreza’. Called 'Janasheen' for this musical film, the song is a treat through and through and aims to take up our stereo sets on repeat once again throughout the incumbent season. Qurram’s other composition for film, Bagiya, sung by Jonita Gandhi, is also met with loud applause".

CORNETTO POP ROCK 2:- 2017:

Q featured on Season 2 of Cornetto Pop Rock with two amazing songs “Turn Up The Music Mr DJ” and “Aajana”. The 2nd season he joined forces with Maria Unera, who has featured on music projects like Nescafe Basement and Levi’s Live. The video shoot for Qurram and Maria’s duet “Aajaana” was shot in Lahore by Amaan Ahmed, while the music video for Qurram’s single “Turn Up The Music Mr DJ” was shot in Karachi by Wajahat Rauf featuring Ayesha Omar and Hasan Rizvi.

DESAN DA RAJA (SUHNI KURI) -2016:

Qurram Hussain and Komal Rizvi collaborated for the first time to bring their fans an amazing take of the wedding classic ‘Desan Da Raja’. The track evokes the same feeling of joy and celebration as did the original classic, which was originally sung by Naseem Begum for the movie Kartar Singh 1959.The theme of the song was kept the same, whilst new lyrics had been put in, which made the song more festive, more full of life and joyous.

The music video won the Google Award for being the FOURTH MOST WATCHED MUSIC VIDEO IN PAKISTAN in year in 2016.

BEYOND KISMAT – 2011:

Only a clutch of artists make an impact around the world like the Canadian JoSH have done so – by breaking barriers with their music. Toronto based, via Pakistan and India, the duo, Rupinder Magon and Qurram Hussain, has delivered a sound that is unique, addictive and universal.

The JoSH’s fourth album ‘Beyond Kismat’ was one of the most incendiary albums of 2011 delivering a feast of Punjabi tarka, soulful melodies complete with an underpinning of rock

The album starts off with the thrilling “Pyar Hogaya” with its catchy beat and chorus gelled with the duo’s perfect chemistry on vocals. “Achi Ajeeb Ho Tum” is playful with an infectious beat — it’s different and unique, and that’s what Josh is known for.

Beyond Kismat is one of the JoSH’s masterpieces. From covers of classic tunes to bhangra beats; soft, mellow numbers to catchy contemporary tunes, the album is chock full of variety with top-notch production quality.

The music album was released by McDonald’s all across Pakistan. A majority of the songs written in Urdu are penned by Qurram Hussain.

COKE STUDIO – 2009:

JoSH was the first international band to perform in Coke Studio, Pakistan in 2009 where the Canadian Indo-Pakistan duo also performed along with the along with Shafqat Amanat Ali.

MAUSAM – 2006:

JoSH's famous music album “Mausam” was released in 2006. There are 11 songs in the album including ‘Mahi Ve’, ‘Rock Your World’ and ‘Nasha Pyar Da”. JoSH’s third album Mausam won 6 International Awards.

REMIXES WITH NELLY FURTADO:

JoSH collaborated with Grammy winner Nelly Furtado with Bhangra remixes of her singles “Powerless (Say What You Want)”, “Promiscuous” and “Maneater”. They were also featured in Nelly Furtado’s tour to India.

ALBUM: KABHI- 2003:

JoSH’s second album ‘Kabhi’ won the four international awards. The album as well as its title track remained in both Indian and MTV World Top 20 lists for 26 weeks from October 2004 to January 2005. Additionally, JoSH was awarded MTV India’s “2004 IMMIE AWARD” for Best New Non-Film Artist.

MAIN HOON TANHA – 2001:

Hussain’s first composition for JoSH, “Main Hoon Tanha”, ended up being the title track for their debut album. That spark got the creative juices flowing, and ‘Q” was able to explore more ideas, eventually ending up with 8 songs that defined JoSH’s, “Main Hoon Tanha“. Later, in 2002, JoSH became the first South-Asian band to perform the National Anthems at the NBA.

EDUCATION:

Qurram Hussain has graduated as a Building Engineer from Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. He worked in a software development company for seven years, while doing music and school on the side as head of Web Technologies.

FAMILY:

‘Q’, as of today, is married to Saima Chaudhry, and has a son and a daughter. He resides in Toronto, Canada.