Lata Mangeshkar was born on September, 28, 1929 in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. Her father, Dinanath Mangeshkar, was a classical singer as well as a theatre artist. When she was 5 years old, she began working as a theatre artist in sangeet nataks. She also started taking singing lessons from her father. Later, at the age of 8 in 1938, Mangeshkar gave her first public performance. Much before India won independence, Mangeshkar started her musical journey at the age of 12. She sang two songs in the studio for the first time on the radio on December 16. BAFTA Awards 2022 Pays Special Tribute to Late Lata Mangeshkar in the ‘In Memoriam’ Segment.

Lata got her biggest break when she was given the chance to sing the song “Aayega Aanewaala” for the movie Mahal. The song was a super hit. The period of 1950s witnessed tremendous growth in her career. She worked with all the famous composers of that era like Shankar Jaikishan, S D Burman, Naushad, etc. The period of 1960s made her the queen of Bollywood playback singing. During the 1960s, Lata didi, as she was popularly known, recorded 30,000 songs and won the Guinness World Record. After this, she became the most recorded voice in history.

From Hindi to Bengali and Marathi, her range of songs remains unparalleled. She has also sung songs in Russian and Malaysian languages. She was the first Indian to perform at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Lata Mangeshkar, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Included in Rolling Stone's '200 Greatest Singers of All Time' - See Full List.

She gave Bollywood many evergreen songs that were loved by people across the world. Some of her most famous songs are “Lag Ja Gale”, “Ajeeb Dastan Hai Yeh”, “Pyar Hua Iqrar Hua”, etc. In 2001, she was the 2nd Indian vocalist to be conferred with India’s highest civilian award Bharat Ratna.

The legendary singer passed away in February 2022 but continues to live in the hearts of her million fans through her evergreen songs.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 06, 2023 07:53 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).