Vital Signs (band)

Vital Signs
From left to right: Rizwan-ul-Haq, Rohail Hyatt, Junaid Jamshed and Shahzad Hasan
Background information
Origin	Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan
Genres	Pop rock/ Pakistani rock
Years active	1986–1998; 2002; 2013
Labels	EMI Pakistan, VCI Records, PTV Studios, Pepsi Pakistan Inc.
Associated acts	Junoon, Awaz, Karavan
Members	Principal Junaid Jamshed Rohail Hyatt Shahzad Hassan
Past members	Other Nusrat Hussain Salman Ahmad Rizwan-ul-Haq Amir Zaki

Vital Signs were a Pakistan pop and rock band formed in Rawalpindi in 1986. Since their formation, they became Pakistan's first and most commercially successful as well as critically acclaimed act. The band's popular lineup consisted of keyboardist Rohail Hyatt, bassist Shahzad Hasan, guitarist Nusrat Hussain and vocalist Junaid Jamshed. Rooted in Rawalpindi with some influence from Western music during the conservative regime of President Zia-ul-Haq, the Vital Signs utilizes several genres, ranging from pop music to rock, and often incorporating classical and other elements in innovative ways. In the early 1990s, they came to be perceived by many Pakistani fans and country's cultural observers as a "promising new era of cultural revival". Their enormous popularity significantly opened a new wave of music and a modern chapter in the history of Pakistan.

The band built its reputation playing in university campuses and underground rock music concerts held in different parts of the country, before being noticed by PTV performing art section director Shoaib Mansoor. The band initially gained national prominence and popularity from their music video of their single "Dil Dil Pakistan" first aired on PTV. Written by Shaoib Mansoor, the song became a big commercial hit and critically acclaimed in the public; it was voted, in an unscientific poll as the third most popular song of all time by BBC World. By the early 1990s, the band members had become public celebrities and international stars in the midst of the 1990s. From the 1980s to the 1990s, they produced many of their highly successful and critically praised albums, what many cultural critics consider their finest material including the innovative and widely influential albums, Vital Signs 1 (1989), Vital Signs 2 (1991), Aitebar (1993) and Hum Tum (1995). The success of their second album marked the international prominence of the band, first traveling to the United States to perform, becoming the first Pakistani music act to go abroad on a tour.