Today is the first death anniversary of legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar.
She is an Indian playback singer, and occasional music-composer. She is one of the best-known and most respected playback singers in India.
India’s highest award in cinema, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, was bestowed on her in 1989 by the Government of India.
She is the second vocalist, after M. S. Subbulakshmi, to have ever been awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour.
Lata Mangeshkar was born in a Marathi-speaking Gomantak Maratha family in Madhya Pradesh on 28 September 1929.
Lata Mangeshkar took her first lessons from her father Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar. At the age of five, she started to work as an actress in her father’s musical plays in Marathi.
On the first day in the school, she started teaching songs to other children. When the teacher stopped her, she was so angry that she stopped going to the school.
In the 1990s, Mangeshkar began singing duets with Pankaj Udhas, Mohammed Aziz, Abhijeet Bhattacharya, Udit Narayan, Kumar Sanu and Suresh Wadkar.
Her most notable work of the 90s was ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ with songs such as ‘Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye’, ‘Ho Gaya Hai Tujhko To Pyaar Sajna’, ‘Tujhe Dekha To Yeh Janam Sanam’, and ‘Mehdni Laga Ke Rakhna’.
In the 2000s, Mangeshkar's duets were mainly with Udit Narayan and Sonu Nigam. 2005 was the year of her last well-known songs: ‘Kaise Piya Se’ from Bewafa and ‘Shayad Yehi to Pyaar Hai’ from Lucky: No Time For Love, with Adnan Sami.
She sang Ek Tu Hi Bharosa from Pukar. Other notable songs of this decade were from Veer-Zaara, sung with Udit Narayan, Sonu Nigam, Jagjit Singh, Roop Kumar Rathod, and Gurdas Mann. One of her latest songs was Jeena Hai Kya from Dunno Y2 (2014).
Lata Mangeshkar has won several awards and honours, including Bharat Ratna (India's Highest Civilian Award), Padma Bhushan (1969), Padma Vibhushan (1999), Dadasaheb Phalke Award (1989), Maharashtra Bhushan Award (1997), NTR National Award (1999), Bharat Ratna (2001), ANR National Award (2009), three National Film Awards, and 12 Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards.
She has also won four Filmfare Best Female Playback Awards. She was also awarded Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993.
Lata Mangeshkar died from multiple organ dysfunction syndrome on February 6 in 2022 at the age of 92. She had undergone 28 days of constant treatment for pneumonia and COVID-19.
