1929 – 2022
Lata Mangeshkar was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely considered to have been one of the greatest and most influential singers in India. Her contribution to the Indian music industry in a career spanning seven decades gained her honorific titles such as the Nightingale of India, Voice of the Millennium and Queen of Melody.
She recorded songs in over thirty-six Indian languages and a few foreign languages, though primarily in Hindi, Bengali, and Marathi. She received several accolades and honors throughout her career. In 1989 the Dadasaheb Phalke Award was bestowed on her by the Government of India. In 2001, in recognition of her contributions to the nation, she was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour; she is only the second female singer, after M. S. Subbulakshmi, to receive this honour. France conferred on her its highest civilian award, Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honour, in 2007.
She was the recipient of three National Film Awards, 15 Bengal Film Journalists’ Association Awards, four Filmfare Best Female Playback Awards, two Filmfare Special Awards, the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award and many more. In 1974, she was one of the first Indian playback singers to ever perform at Royal Albert Hall, London. Her last recorded song was a rendition of the Gayatri Mantra at Mukesh Ambani’s daughter Isha Ambani’s wedding.