Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan (3 March 1931 – 17 January 2021)^[1][2] was an Indian classical musician in the Hindustani classical music tradition, belonging to the Rampur-Sahaswan Gharana.^[3]

He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1991, followed by Padma Bhushan in 2006 and Padma Vibhushan in 2018. In 2003 he was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, the highest Indian recognition given to practicing artists by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama.

Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan was born in Badayun, Uttar Pradesh. His mother was the daughter of the great Ustad Inayat Hussain Khan and music was the legacy of his family. Inayat Hussain Khan was also the court musician during the reign of King Wajid Ali Shah and also the son-in-law of the pioneer of Gwalior Gharana Haddu Khan.

Since both Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan's parents wanted him to be a singer, his training in music started very young at a time when he could remember the tune but could not understand the words. After his father, he was trained by Ustaad Fida Hussain Khan who was the court musician at the Baroda's royal Darbar, and then from Ustad Nissar Hussain Khan. The traditional styles of Rampur, Gwalior and Sahaswan gharanas are therefore part of his performance.

At the time, every city had a Victoria Garden and it was the custom that on Janmashtami, the first public performance of those interested in music be performed as a debut. Ali Maqsood, the Chairman of the Municipality of Budaun (Ustad Ji's birth place), organised the Janmashtami function every year and asked Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan to perform when he was 8 years old.

Ustad Ghulam Mustafa was awarded the Padmashri in 1991, the Sangeet Natak Academy Award in 2003, the Padmabhushan in 2006, and the Padma Vibhushan in 2018.

Though Ustad Ji was skeptical to sing in films as he wanted to keep the cultural heritage of the Rampur sahaswan gharana and hindustani classical music he did very limited film songs, the first film he sang for was in Marathi, ‘Chand Pretticha’. From 1957, he started singing playback for Marathi and Gujarati films. He started with Mrinal Sen’s ‘Bhuvan Shome’ and sang ‘Sajanaa kahe nahi aaye...’ for ‘Badnaam Basti’ under the same music director, Vijay Raghav Rao. He played the role of Baiju Bawra in a German Documentary "Rain Maker" shot in Jaipur, besides being playback singer in the same film. He has given his voice to more than 70 documentary films made by Films Division, many of them receiving international & National Awards. He has performed across India and all across the globe.

From the late 50s, he has been a guru^[4] to Lata Mangeshkar,^[5] Asha Bhosle, Manna Dey, Kamal Barot, Waheeda Rehman, Ranu Mukherjee, Amit Kumar, Laxmi Nayampalli, Geeta Dutt, A. R. Rahman,^[6][7] Hariharan,^[8][9] Shaan and Sonu Nigam,^[10][11][12] Sagarika, Alisha Chinoy, Shilpa Rao,^[13][14] and Kalpana Patowary was one of his students.^[15] Aftab Ahmad Khan is his youngest brother & disciple. His four sons Ghulam Murtuza, Ghulam Qadir, Rabbani Mustafa Khan and Ghulam Hasan Khan were also trained by him. Currently they are professional singers. Murtaza and Qadir have sung in films like Fiza,Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities, Saathiya, Guru, Mangal Pandey. Rabbani Mustafa Khan, his third son has sung songs with Times music like Naina, aaoni saiyon and for films songs like peer meri piya jaane na from film mera fauzi calling and allah hu from the film sarabjit. His grandsons Faiz, Aamir and zain also received their taalim from him.

In Coke Studio, composer A. R. Rahman shared the stage with his 82-year-old guru, also featuring his four sons- Murtuza, Qadir, Rabbani and Hasan and his 12-year-old grandson, Faiz. All five vocalists and Rahman collaborated on two numbers as a part of Ghulam Mustafa Khan's 3 generation performance.^[16]

Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan was married to Amina Begum who is grand daughter of the first reciepient of Padma Bhushan Ustad Mushtaq Hussain Khan. They have four daughters and four sons who are Murtuza Mustafa, Qadir Mustafa, Rabbani Mustafa and Hasan Mustafa.

Ustad Ji has four daughters and four sons Murtuza Mustafa, Qadir Mustafa, Rabbani Mustafa Khan and Hasan Mustafa and were trained by him in music.^[17][18] Moreover his son Ghulam Murtuza Mustafa trained the singers and celebrities like Lucky Ali, Khatija Rahman, Raheema Rahman, A.R.Ameen (Children Of Music Composer A.R.Rahman) , Tabu,Huma Qureshi, Manmeet Singh, Khushboo Grewal, Neeti Mohan, Mohammed Irfan, Anushka Manchanda, Priyani Vani, Aishwarya Shankar, Aditi Shankar, Anjana Sukhani, Shazahn Padamsee, Shashwat Singh, Ashima Mahajan, Shefali Alvare, Garima Jain whereas Qadir Mustafa trained celebrities Elli Avram, VJ Andy, Terence Lewis, Armaan Mallik, Shraddha Kapoor, Rasha Thadani, Manav Gohil, Narayani Shastri, Simple Kaul, Tanzeel Khan, Band of boys, Sudhanshu Pandey, Turab Jaffery.^[19][17]

Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan's daughter-in-law Namrata Gupta Khan who owns NR Talent and Event Management presents a landmark concert titled 'Haazri' that pays homage to the late legend every 17th January.^[20][5]

Ustad Ji died on 17th January 2021 at his residence in Mumbai, aged 89.^[21]