MILESTONES

By KATHLEEN HIRCE, JANICE M. HOROWITZ, JAMIE MALANOWSKI, STACY PERMAN, GABRIEL SNYDER, ALAIN L. SANDERS, JOEL STEIN AND SUSANNE WASHBURN

DIED. NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN, 48, mesmerizing singer who brought the mystical music of the Sufis of northern India and Pakistan to a global stage, becoming one of the superstars of world music; after suffering cardiac arrest during a trip to Britain to seek medical treatment for chronic liver and weight problems; in London. For 600 years, Khan's family had been singers in the qawwali tradition, a style that built layer upon layer of increasingly intense music that demanded ferocious vocal control and culminated in whirling peaks of ecstasy. Khan not only revived qawwali's popularity in his native Pakistan but also, after being lured into recording the sound track for The Last Temptation of Christ by the British rock musician Peter Gabriel, began attracting an international following. Besides recording the sound tracks of Natural Born Killers and Dead Man Walking (where he sang with Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder), he continued to perform around the world. At sold-out performances, throngs would dance and whirl, some shouting "Ali! Ali!" and throwing money on stage where Khan sat, gesticulating only with his hands as his voice conquered all surrounding space.

DIED. LUTHER ALLISON, 57, searing blues guitarist; of lung cancer; in Madison, Wis. Born on an Arkansas cotton plantation, he played with nearly every major blues figure in the past 30 years, keeping the music alive as rap and soul captured successive generations of black audiences. With the blues dying out at home, he eventually moved to the more reverential shores of France.

DIED. NORMAN B. TURE, 73, evangelist of supply-side economics and considered the principal architect of Reagan's 1981 tax cut, the largest in U.S. history; of pancreatic cancer; in Alexandria, Va.

DIED. CONLON NANCARROW, 84, eccentric and enigmatic American-born composer; in Mexico City. One of the most curious characters in modern music, he devoted his life to composing almost exclusively for the player piano. He fought with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade against fascist Spain in 1937. His political views led the State Department to refuse to renew his passport in 1940. He moved to Mexico, where he became a citizen.

DIED. DUKE ZEIBERT, 86, affable restaurateur who, for more than four decades, ran Washington's favorite power-lunch spot; in Bethesda, Md.

DIED. CARLTON MOSS, 88, pioneering independent filmmaker; in Los Angeles. When blacks were excluded from moviedom, he charted his own course, making little-known industrial films. His potent 1944 Army documentary, The Negro Soldier, attracted wide attention, inspiring future generations of black actors, writers and directors.