One Pound Fish! The catchy ode to cut-price fish has been viewed more than 30 million times on YouTube is the creation of Muhammad Shahid Nazir who is a  British-based Pakistani trader and recording artist who found fame as an internet sensation for his viral video "One Pound Fish".

Prior to immigrating to the United Kingdom for a better life, Nazir worked for the family-owned transport company.Following brief employment at a pound shop, Nazir, who had since settled in East London, began work on a fish stall at Queen's Market, Upton Park where his employer instructed him to use a trader’s call to attract customers. He soon composed the song "One Pound Fish" for his customers.His song became a massive viral YouTube hit - reaching number 29 in the British pop charts. It became an internet smash and a viral video after passing customers uploaded videos of Nazir performing his song onto YouTube. The song has since been covered by Alesha Dixon, Timbaland and Mindless Behavior. Mr Nazir was given a hero's welcome on his return to Pakistan when his visa ran out at the end of last year. He also sang the same song for PTCL advertisement but with different lyrics.

We had a little chat with Mr Nazir; here are some excerpts from his interview.

 

Q 1: You shot to fame overnight; it must have changed your life. You no longer a worker and student in UK, what are your plans?

Ans: Yes it surely did change my life. With fame, responsibility also comes. I am currently a brand ambassador for PTCL and also signed a contract with Universal of India. I am presently working on my second song as well.

Q 2: How do you plan to carry on your career as a singer? Are you going to learn ‘raags’ and proper traditional music?

Ans: Allah has given me my own unique style; I would not like to copy others rather I’d prefer to stick to my own natural style. Yes definitely I would like to learn some traditional music because I do want to pursue my singing as a profession.

Q 3: You had signed a deal with Warner Music, tell us about it?

Ans: No, I haven’t signed any deal; Warner Music officially launched my song.

Q 4: You have appeared in some TV commercials, but after that you disappeared from showbiz scene. What are you doing these days?

Ans: I am working on my second song these days and I am quite busy with some more projects. A movie on my personal life is an on-going project for which I am working, but right now it’s just in the preproduction phase so haven’t brought it to limelight yet.

Q 5: Are you collaborating with other artists and singers for some project?

Ans: No, I am not.

Q 6: You were deported from UK. Do you plan to go back? If so what are your expectations?

Ans: No I wasn’t deported from U.K. this proved wrong on the very day when I landed on the airport, because a person who is deported doesn’t come back the way I did. Media gave huge coverage on my arrival. The world saw it, thus it was misreported by Indian media. The Sunrise radio of India casted my program and totally came up with a false propaganda because they couldn’t see a Pakistani getting so much fame overnight. If I had no visa how could I stay in U.K for so long? I will definitely go back to pursue my career in singing as I’ve had many commercial offers from U.K but due to my busy schedule I couldn’t manage to avail them. I have had offers from France also, who officially launched my song. I got fame all over the world; my song was on the top list of Japan Dance charts.