On September 28 in 1929, India was blessed with the Queen of Melody who would enthral the nation with her honey-life voice. The iconic singer was born as Hema Mangeshkar in Indore (in present-day Madhya Pradesh and then the capital of the princely state of Indore which was part of the Central India Agency in British India) to Marathi-Konkani musician Deenanath Mangeshkar and his wife Shevanti. She was the eldest among her four siblings-- Meena Khadikar, Asha Bhosle, Usha Mangeshkar and Hridaynath Mangeshkar-- who are all renowned singers and musicians.
Alongside a renowned Indian singer, Lata Mangeshkar was also a music director. She is one of the best-known and most respected playback singers in India. She has recorded songs in over a thousand Hindi films and has sung songs in over thirty-six regional Indian languages and foreign languages, though primarily in Marathi, Hindi, Bengali and Assamese.
The Dadasaheb Phalke Award was bestowed on her in 1989 by the Indian government. In 2001, in recognition of her contributions to the nation, she was awarded the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian honour of India and is only the second vocalist, after MS Subbulakshmi, to receive this honour. France conferred on her its highest civilian award, the Officer of the Legion of Honour, in 2007. She is the recipient of three National Film Awards, 15 Bengal Film Journalists’ Association Awards, four Filmfare Best Female Playback Awards, two Filmfare Special Awards, Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award and many more. In 1974, she became the first Indian to perform in the Royal Albert Hall.
Lata Mangeshkar received her first music lesson from her father. At the age of five, she started to work as an actress in her father’s musical plays. On her first day of school, she left school because they would not allow her to bring her sister Asha with her, as she would often bring her younger sister with her.
Lata Mangeshkar has sung 185 songs in Bengali, making her debut in 1956 with the hit song ‘Prem Ekbari Esechilo Nirobe’, composed by Hemant Kumar. The same year, she recorded ‘Rongila Banshite’, composed by Bhupen Hazarika, which was also a hit. In the late 1950s, she recorded a string of hits such as ‘Jaare Ure Jare Pakhi’, ‘Na Jeona’, and ‘Ogo Aar Kichu To Noy’, all composed by Salil Chowdhury, and which were respectively adapted into Hindi as ‘Ja Re Ud Ja Re Panchi’ and ‘Tasveer Tere Dil Mein’ in Maya, and ‘O Sajna’ in Parakh. In 1960, she recorded ‘Akash Pradip Jole’, a smash hit even today. Later in the 1960s, she sang hits like ‘Ekbar Biday De Ma Ghure Asi’.
