Sanam Marvi's childhood was full of hardships and poverty.[vague][3] Marvi started music training at the age of 7. She is from a Sindhi Family. Her father, Faqeer Khan Muhammad, was also a Sindhi folk musician/harmonium player who gave Marvi classical music training for 2 years. Later she learnt classical singing and raags from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan from Sindh in the Gwalior gharana tradition. She says that she has also learned a lot from folk singer Abida Parveen.[1][2] She performed in Rafi Peer Theatre in 2004 and 2005.
Sanam Marvi debuted, in 2009, at ‘Virsa Heritage’, a music program on Pakistan Television Corporation channel hosted by Yousuf Salahuddin. She affectionately calls him 'like a baba to her' (a father figure to her) for giving her a big break in the Pakistani entertainment industry. Later she performed at Coke Studio Pakistan, a Pakistani television series featuring live music performances.[1]
Marvi performs sufi concerts around the world. She is considered among the 3 of the finest performers in the Sufi, ghazal and folk genres. The other 2 being Abida Parveen and Tina Sani.[4]
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She made her debut in a solo performance on the Indian soil at 2010's Jahan-e-Khusrau, the Sufi music festival arranged by the famous film producer Muzaffar Ali of 1981 film Umrao Jaan fame.[2] In February 2011, she performed with Indian playback singer Rekha Bhardwaj at Times of India's Aman ki Asha event at Chowmahalla Palace, Hyderabad, India.[5]
Sanam Marvi feels that lyrics written by the Sufi poets have a universal and timeless appeal among the public and that people find comfort in those words.[1]
Recently, she carried on the legacy of folk genre and sang 'Hairaan Hua' from the platform of Coke Studio.[6]
Sanam Marvi was married to Hamid Ali Khan, they have three children.[1]The couple divorced in 2020.[7] Her first husband, Aftab Ahmed Pharero, also known as Aftab Ahmed Kalhoro, was murdered in Karachi in 2009.[8] They had married in 2006 but had been estranged for two years prior to his death. Marvi was Aftab's second wife.[8]
Won UNESCO Award at 9th International Music Festival (Festival Sharq Taronalari, Samarqand 2013). She is the second artist after Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to win this award.
