Date of Birth

Nickname

Mini Biography

Lata Mangeshkar was born in Indore on

September 8, 1929, and became, quite simply,

the most popular Playback Singer in

Bollywood's history. She has sung for over

50 years for actresses from Nargis to

Preity Zinta, as well as having recorded albums

of all kinds (ghazals, pop, etc). Until the 1991 edition,

when her entry disappeared, the Guinness Book

of World Records listed her as the most-recorded

artist in the world with not less than 30,000 solo,

duet,and chorus-backed songs recorded in 20

Indian languages between 1948 and 1987. Today

that number might have reached 40,000!

She was born the daughter of Dinanath Mangeshkar,

the owner of a theater company and a reputed

classical Singer in his own right. He started giving

Lata singing lessons from the age of five, and she

also studied with renowned singers Aman Ali Khan

Sahib and Amanat Khan. Even at a young age she

displayed a God-given musical gift and could master

vocal exercises the first time.

Ironically, for someone of her stature, she made

her entry into Bollywood at the wrong time -

around the 1940s, when bass singers with heavily

nasal voices, such as Noor Jehan and Shamshad Begum

were in style. She was rejected from many

projects because it was believed that her

voice was too high-pitched and thin.

The circumstances of her entry into the industry

were no less inauspicious - her father died in

1942, the responsibility of earning income to

support her family fell upon her, and between 1942

and 1948 she acted in as many as eight films in

Hindi and Marathi to take care of economic hardships.

She made her debut as a playback singer in the

Marathi film Kiti Hasaal (1942) but, ironically,

the song was edited out!

However, in 1948, she got her big break with

Ghulam Haider in the film Majboor (1948), and

1949 saw the release of four of her films: Mahal

(1949), Dulari (1949), Barsaat (1949), and Andaz

(1949); all four of them became runaway hits,

with their songs reaching to heights of what was

until then unseen popularity. Her unusually high

-pitched singing rendered the trend of heavily

nasal voices of the day totally obsolete and, within

a year, she had changed the face of playback singing

forever. The only two lower-pitched singers to

survive her treble onslaught to a certain extent

were Geeta Dutt and Shamshad Begum.

Her singing style was initially reminiscent of

Noor Jehan, but she soon overcame that and

evolved her own distinctive style. Her sister,

Asha Bhosle, too, came up in the late 1950s and the two of

them were the queens of Indian playback singing right through

to the 1990s. Her voice

had a special versatile quality, which meant that finally

music composers could stretch their creative experiments

to the fullest. Although all her songs were immediate

hits under any composer, it was the composers

C. Ramchandra and Madan Mohan who made her

sound her sweetest and challenged her voice like

no other music director.

The 1960s and 1970s saw her go from strength

to strength, even as there were accusations that

she was monopolizing the playback-singing

industry. However, in the 1980s, she cut down

her workload to concentrate on her shows abroad.

Today, Lata sings infrequently despite a sudden

resurgence in her popularity, but even today some

of Hindi Cinema's biggest hits, including Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge

(1995), Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), and Veer-Zaara

(2004) feature her legendary voice.

No matter which female playback singer breaks

through in any generation, she cannot replace the

timeless voice of Lata Mangeshkar. She is an icon

beyond icons....

Trivia

Sister of Asha Bhosle

Daughter of Dinanath Mangeshkar

A legendary playback singer in Indian movies, she

has recorded over 30,000 songs in 14 Indian

languages, making her the most recorded voice in

history.

Was awarded the Bharatha Rathna, the highest civilian

honor by the Government of India.

Mentioned in the song "Brimful of Asha" by

Cornershop. (The title refers to her sister, Asha Bhosle,

who is also mentioned in the song.).

Personal Quotes

About singing for Veer-Zaara (2004): "Madan Mohan

was like my brother. Yashji's like my brother. I felt I

had gone back in time."

About her love of diamonds: "I've been fond of diamonds

from childhood. As a child, my father used to design jewelry.

But we couldn't afford them. He had a keen eye for jewelry

and was fond of wearing precious stones. We kids were equally

fascinated by jewels. But until I became a professional

playbacsinger, I refused to wear jewelry. I had decided I'd wear

only diamonds."

About the number of her songs being remixed in music

videos: "I don't like it. I don't like remix albums as a

concept. On top of that, these girls dancing in itsy-bitsy

clothes suggestively! From childhood we've been told

that a woman's dignity is in the way she conducts

herself in public. The less you reveal, the more

attractive you appear. I must say that the songs that

I considered vulgar in those days seem like bhajans

[devotional music] compared with what's being sung

these days! Yes, I've sung naughty songs, but "Kaanta

Lagaa," for instance, had another context when I sang

it. I feel sorry for the girl who was seen in the music video

of "Kaanta Lagaa." I've heard she's from a decent family.

Why wasn't she stopped by her family? Ambition? If she

did it with their consent, then God help them. I struggled

hard to get where I am - that's why I am still here."

About music composition: "It doesn't suit me. Although

I've done it in the past, now I don't feel like it. I don't

think I've the patience."

About the December 2004 tsunami: "This sort of

calamity shakes our faith in every law of nature. Little

children, women, and entire families have perished. We

must help...yes we must."