Lata Mangeshkar Biography

 Lata Mangeshkar

“The undisputed melody queen of India… Pint-sized bundle of musical genius… a singer with moonlight in her throat…. a legend in her lifetime…” TIME Magazine.
The ease with which one can lapse into superlatives when words fail to express the depth and scope of genius is best illustrated in the case of Lata Mangeshkar.
Diminutive in size but gigantic in stature, Lata Mangeshkar has had several distinctions in her long and illustrious career, not the least of which is the honour of being the only Indian artiste to be written-up by the world famous “Time” magazine (August 1959).
“Time” said, “She is the undisputed and indispensable queen of playback singers, with an output of 30 songs a week, and more recordings to her name than any other singer in the world.”
A living legend in her lifetime, Lata Mangeshkar was born in Indore on September 28, 1929, the eldest among a family of four sisters and one brother.
Daughter of the famous singing-actor Dinanath Mangeshkar. Lata revealed early flashes of her genius at the age of five when she began to learn from her first “Guru”, her own father.
Soon Lata began acting on the Marathi stage in “musicals”, and in 1941 won the first prize in a contest held by the famous Ghulam Haider, music director of the hit film “Khazanchi”. The prize was a Dilruba. Out of sheer pride, she would not allow anybody to touch it! At this her father grew upset. Throwing away the bow, he told her, “Never be carried away by your success. The artiste should always be humble” – a piece of advice which she has lived by for the rest of her life.
The earliest years of her illustrious, long career, however, were years fraught with struggle, penury and disillusionment. Lata Mangeshkar has come up the hard way. When her father lay on his deathbed, he is reported to have said to her. “Except for the Tanpura in the corner, those notebooks filled with classical music and songs, and God’s blessings – I have nothing else to give”.
Dinanath Mangeshkar died on April 24, 1942, when Lata was only 12 years old. The economics of family life fell on her tender shoulders, and she went to work immediately.
She had already acted and sung in films. The first had been Vasant Joglekar’s “Kiti Hansal”, which never saw the light of the day. Later she acted in “Paheli Manglagour” for Master Vinayak in Poona, after which she went to Kolhapur to work for Prafulla Pictures, where for the next six years she acted in quite a few films.
Lata then came to Bombay with Master Vinayak and his unit and began to study classical music under Aman Ali Khan Bhendibazarwale. The “Shagird” ceremony was held on January 11, 1945, and she learned with him for nearly a year. Her next “Guru” was Amanat Khan of the Devdas School of Music.
The first Hindi film song which Lata Mangheshkar sang was for Vasant Joglekar’s film, “Aap Ki Seva Mein” with music composed by Datta Davjekar.
In 1947, Master Vinayak died and a fresh period of struggle for Lata began again. Now she came in contact with Ghulam Haider and sang playback for “Majboor”. A series of assignments followed. She sang for Khemchand Prakash, Anil Biswas, Shyam Sunder, Naushad and Shankar Jaikishan. Though work had begun to come her way, times were not easy. Lata was working for long and arduous hours, living only on cups of tea and footing it out in suburbs as far-flung of Malad, Goregaon and Andheri.
“Majboor” celebrated its Silver Jubilee. So did the fabulous “Andaz”, “Barsaat” – a Golden Jubliee and “Badi Bahen” and the golden voiced career of Lata Mangeshkar had really begun.
Though Lata’s mother tongue is Marathi, She has recorded songs for over a thousand Hindi films and has sung songs in over thirty-six regional Indian languages and foreign languages.
At a function held in her honour many years ago, Lata Mageshkar, a sentimentalist at heart, was moved to tears, and in replying to tribute from a vast audience, she said “I believe in past births and reincarnation. The fact that you all have come here and showered on me your best wishes and given me the feeling of fulfillment – what else could it be but the fruits of may past birth? Forgetting the difference of caste, region or religion, the people have always welcomed me with great love – they have showered boundless affection on me for the last twenty-five years. Can I ever forget this?”
She has, over the last 71 odd years, gone on to add to her laurels, enough to lose count. Awards galore, national honours like Padmabhushan and Indias’s highest civilian award-The Bharat Ratna, Doctorates from Universities of Kolhapur, Khairagarh, Hyderabad, Swarbharati Shankaracharya, the “Rashtrabhushan” title from Ichalkaranji, the “Asthana Vidhwan” title from Tirupati Devasthanam and was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records from 1974 to 1991 for having made the most recordings in the world. The claim was that she had recorded approximately 25,000 solo, duet, and chorus-backed songs in 20 Indian languages between 1948 to 1974
She has been honoured with the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke award which is very selectively given by the Government of India. The India Today magazine conducted a poll of the most popular Indian – Lata Mangeshkar won the top place by breathtaking majority.
Earlier in 1999, she was awarded the Padma Vibhushan by President of India, the second highest civilian honour. TIME magazine has just declared her among the top 100 Asians of the Millennium. In 2001, she was awarded the Bharat Ratna by the President of India, the highest civilian award of India.
She continues to add to her laurels by having sell-out shows all over the world, and by topping the charts with her songs from the recent block busters “Hum Aapke Hain Kaun”, “Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge”, “Dil Se”, “Dil To Pagal Hai”, “Kabhie Khushi Kahbie Gham”, Veer Zara, and “Mohabatein”. At 84 she still sings for 17 year old film heroines.
Indeed, hers is a career that is unparalleled in any field, anywhere in the world. Where else can we find a personality who has stayed at the top rung in her field for over 70 years? Today Lata Mangheshkar has transcended the norms of popularity and success by carving out for herself a niche that only inspires reverence for her achievements only in her career but also as a human being and singular citizen of India.
Awards and Encomiums An incomplete List…
1969 Padma Bhushan
1999 Padma Vibhushan
1980 Was presented key of the city of Georgetown, Guyana (South America)
1980 Honorary Citizenship, The Republic of Suriname (South America)
1985 9th June declared as Asia Day in honour of her arrival in Toronto, Canada.
1987 Honorary Citizenship of the U.S.A., Houston, Texas, U.S.A.
1989 Dada Saheb Phalke Award – Life long contribution to cinema
2001 Bharat Ratna (Highest Civilian Award in India)
2006 Legion of Honour – Highest civilian award of France

She says, “Maan Sammaan has never meant much to me. The one time I felt fulfilled was in Tirupati when I was given the title “Asthan Sangeet Vidwaan Sarloo” (Court Musician of the Shrine). The whole atmosphere and the way it was conducted, made me feel so good that I remember, I sang for one and a half hour at that function”.
Filmfare Trophies
1958 Madhumati “Aaja re pardesi…”
1962 Bees Saal Baad “Kahin deep jale…”
1965 Khandaan “Tumhi mere mandir…”
1969 Jeene Ki Raah “Aap mujhe achchhe lagne lage…”
2005 Filmfare Gold Award
After 1969, she made the unprecedented gesture of renouncing Filmfare awards in favour of fresh talent, except for a Lifetime award.


A.D. Litt. from Shivaji University, Kolhapur and Hyderabad University.
The Swar Bharati award given by the Shankarahcarya of Sankeshwar.
Doctorate from York University, Canada (1995).
It is practically impossible to pen down the greatness and popularity of Lata Mangeshkar. At 84, she stands unmatched in stature, in recognition and in the vast fan following that she enjoys. She is an icon, an institution and is worshipped like a goddess in India and with her fans the world over.