Lata Mangeshkar

Born in 1929 in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, Kumari Lata Mangeshkar was initiated in music by her father Master Dinanath Mangeshkar, a celebrated singer-actor of the Marathi stage. She was later a student of Ustad Aman Ali Khan of the Bhendibazar gharana and Ustad Amanat Khan of Dewas. Making her debut as a singeractress on the Marathi stage in Pahili Mangala Gaur at the age of nine, Kumari Lata Mangeshkar entered the cinema at 13 and soon made her mark as a singer of prodigious talent. By the ’50s she was established as the “indisputable and indispensable queen of India’s playback singers”, as Time magazine called her, and has been synonymous with popular music in the subcontinent ever since. Though chiefly associated with the Hindi film industry in Bombay, Kumari Lata Mangeshkar has sung on and off the screen in all major Indian languages. She has to her name the largest number recorded songs in the world, of an allencompassing variety. Kumari Lata Mangeshkar has enjoyed tremendous popularity wherever Indian music is heard, and has raised large sums for charities at home and abroad. She is a recipient of many honours including honorary doctorates from the Indira Kala Sangit Vishwavidyalaya, Khairagarh, and Shivaji University, Kolhapur. She received the Padma Bhushan in 1969. For her contribution to music in India, Kumari Lata Mangeshkar is elected Fellow of Sangeet Natak Akademi.