One Pound Fish

Noor Javed 
Staff Reporter 

A London fishmonger’s catchy tune to hook in more customers to his east London fish stand has landed him with a flashy major-label music video and a chance to become the country’s top holiday song.

Muhammad Shahid Nazir became an Internet sensation earlier this year, after a video posted of him singing “One Pound Fish” went viral, garnering almost 4.2 million views and thousands of fans in a few months.

Just this week, the fishmonger moved to the big leagues with the release of a bass- and beats-infused version of his “One Pound Fish” that music execs are hoping will appeal to the masses over the holiday season.

“Come on ladies, come on ladies, one pound fish,” croons the Pakistani immigrant and father of four, as he gyrates and does traditional bhangra moves in a room full of backup dancers. “Have a, have a look, one pound fish,” he says as he holds up plastic fish.

The video has had more than a million views in two days and has led to fan sites on Facebook. One of the sites is set up by Colin Miller, a freelance web designer who first posted the video of Nazir to YouTube in May. Miller writes: “This bloke is a legend. One Pound Fish, market stall trader. He certainly entertains the good folk of East London with his unique song.”

Miller urges people in the Facebook group to buy the single to help it become the top song on Christmas and in particular to “beat the X Factor machine.”

The reality show The X Factor has been successful for the past few years in producing the top holiday song in the U.K. This year’s competition is extra fierce, as Nazir failed to make it past the first round of the British version of the reality show when he auditioned in May.

Despite his failure, he was approached by executives from Warner Music, who believed that his song has “Psy-like potential,” alluding to the Korean music sensation whose “Gangnam Style” has the most views on YouTube.

In May, Nazir told the BBC that he was an aspiring singer as a child growing up near Lahore, and grew up singing Bollywood and Punjabi songs. It was only in February that he moved from the “everything for a pound” stall to selling fish. He soon came up with a catchy tune to get people’s attention, with little idea of how successful he would be.