Hassan, who had millions of fans in India and Pakistan, had been admitted to the Agha Khan Hospital in the southern port city of Karachi some days ago. He had been in a serious condition and was on ventilator.
"My father passed away at 12:22 PM after a long battle against different ailments," his son Arif Hassan said. "My father has been ill for the last 12 years but this year, his condition has deteriorated significantly... in the last one month," said Arif. "He was released from hospital for just one day before being admitted again."
Hundreds of fans gathered at the hospital on learning of his death.
Hassan was born into a family of traditional musicians at Luna village in India's Rajasthan state in 1927. His family migrated to Pakistan at the time of Partition in 1947.
Hassan cut back on his performances in the late 1980s due to illness. Hassan leaves behind his nine sons and five daughters. He married twice. Both his wives are dead.
The maestro, who began his career primarily as a 'thumri' singer, earned recognition within the musical fraternity at the time when Ustad Barkat Ali Khan, Begum Akhtar and Mukhtar Begum were considered the stalwarts of ghazal rendition.
It was his passion for Urdu poetry that made him take up ghazal singing on a part-time basis but he soon became its greatest star.
There was a time in Pakistan's film industry when a film was considered incomplete without Hassan's voice. He ruled the Pakistani film world along with Ahmed Rushdi in the 1960s-70s.
He was the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions: the 'Tamgha-i-Imtiaz' granted to him by Gen Ayub Khan; the 'Pride of Performance' bestowed on him by Gen Ziaul Haq; and the 'Hilal-i-Imtiaz' conferred by Gen Pervez Musharraf.
Besides the Nigar Film and Graduate Awards from Pakistan, he was presented the Saigal Award in Jalandhar, India, in 1979, while the Gorkha Dakshina Bahu Award was given to him in Nepal in 1983.
Hassan stopped singing in the late 80s due to ill health. Despite his ailments, Hassan had a great desire to sing with Lata Mangeshkar. In 2010, "Sarhadein", an album which had the first and last duet song "Tera Milana" by Mehdi Hassan and Lata Mangeshkar, was released.
Hassan recorded his part in Pakistan in 2009 and Lata later heard the track and recorded her part in India in 2010. The tracks were later mixed together for a duet. Lata, who once called Hassan the 'voice of God', said "A singer like him is born once in a millennium. It is my bad luck that I could not sing with him when he was healthy. Now I can only regret. With his demise the music fraternity has lost a great and legendary singer."
Hassan, who last performed in India in 2000, wanted to visit his birth country again, a wish that remained unfulfilled.
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