The nightingale of India died in ICU at Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital. She is highly versatile and has sung in more than 20 languages. Lata was born on September 28, 1929 in Indore, Madhya Pradesh as the daughter of Dinanath Mangeshkar, who was a classical singer as well as a theater artist. She was the first child of the Mangeshkar family. She was born in Indore, however brought up in Maharashtra. She sang her maiden cinematic music for the Marathi movie Kiti Hasaal (1942).
In the year 1945, she met the movie producer S. Mukherji through Ghulam Haider. Haider personally desired her to be given an chance to exhibit her singing talent. However, S. Mukherji did not like her voice and stated no for giving her a risk to sing for his movie. She acquired her biggest break, when she was given the chance to sing the song “Aayega Aanewaala” for the film Mahal. The song was a super duper hit. The duration of 1950s witnessed terrific increase in her career. She rose to the pinnacle in the listing of Bollywood singers. She worked with all the well-known composers of that generation like Shankar Jaikishan, S D Burman, Naushad, Hemant Kumar, and Salil Chowdhury. Shankar Jaikishan. The period of 1960s made her the star of Bollywood playback singing. During the 1970s, Lata recorded songs for Bollywood actress Meena Kumari in the film Pakeezah, which brought her popularity. She sang tracks for S.D. Burman’s films like Prem Pujari, Sharmilee, and Abhimaan.
She established her own production house. Their first and last film “Lekin” was a total flop. In 2012, she launched her own music label called LM Music. Her most recent release was the song Saugandh Mujhe Is Mitti Ki, composed by Mayuresh Pai, which is a tribute to the Indian army. She has also sung some non film songs including ghazals with Jagjit Singh
Lata Mangeshkar has received a number of awards and accolades in the course of her eight-decade-long career. In 1974, she became the first Indian to perform at the Royal Albert Hall. She is the recipient of three National Film Awards, 15 Bengal Film Journalists’ Association Awards, 4 Filmfare Best Female Playback Awards, two Filmfare Special Awards, Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award and many more. Lata Mangeshkar was awarded with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1989. In 2001, she was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour. The authorities of France conferred on her its highest civilian award (Officer of the Legion of Honour) in 2007.Along with these, Lata Mangeshkar holds the difference of being the most recorded artist in the records of Indian tune in Guinness Record in 1974. The Indian authorities honoured her with the Daughter of the Nation award on her 90th birthday.
Talking about her personal life, there’s not much available. She did not get married to anyone her entire life, according to some sources she had a love story with Raj Singh the former President of BCCI and first-class cricketer. Lata Mangeshkar and Raj Singh were planning to tie the knot however that was not convenient as he was from a royal family and Lata being a commoner and so Raj’s father was against it and was not ready to accept Lata in their family. Also, Raj Singh had great respect for his father and for this reason decided to go with the wish of his father but also never got married. He vowed to remain single for life if he couldn’t marry his love.Lata Mangeshkar respected Raj Singh’s selection and they persisted to stay friends until his death.
The book entitled “Lata Mangeshkar: A Musical Journey” contains little known facts about the story of her life in music, struggles, successes and her reign as the Queen of Hindi music.
