Lata Mangeshkar (born as Hema 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 "Queen of Melody", "Nightingale of India", "Voice of the Millennium".
Lata Mangeshkar recorded songs in over thirty-six Indian languages and a few foreign languages, though primarily in Hindi, Bengali, Marathi.
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.
She received her first music lesson from her father. At the age of five, she started to work as an actress in her father's musical plays (Sangeet Natak in Marathi). On her first day of school, Mangeshkar left because she was not allowed to bring her sister Asha along with her
In 1942, when Mangeshkar was 13, her father died of heart disease. Master Vinayak (Vinayak Damodar Karnataki), the owner of Navyug Chitrapat movie company and a close friend of the Mangeshkar family, took care of them. He helped her get started in a career as a singer and actress.
She moved to Mumbai in 1945 when Master Vinayak's company moved its headquarters there. She started taking lessons in Hindustani classical music from Ustad Aman Ali Khan of Bhindibazaar Gharana.She sang "Paa Lagoon Kar Jori" for Vasant Joglekar's Hindi-language movie Aap Ki Seva Mein (1946),
which was composed by Datta Davjekar.The dance in the film was performed by Rohini Bhate, who later became a famous classical dancer.Lata and her sister Asha played minor roles in Vinayak's first Hindi-language movie, Badi Maa (1945). In that movie, Lata also sang a bhajan, "Maata Tere Charnon Mein." She was introduced to music director Vasant Desai during the recording of Vinayak's second Hindi-language movie, Subhadra (1946).Mangeshkar's song "Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya" from Mughal-e-Azam (1960), composed by Naushad and lip-synced by Madhubala, still remains famous.The Hawaiian-themed number "Ajeeb Dastaan Hai Yeh", from Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai (1960), was composed by Shankar–Jaikishan and lip-synced by Meena Kumari.
In 1961, she recorded two popular bhajans, "Allah Tero Naam" and "Prabhu Tero Naam"
Lata Mangeshkar composed music for the first time in 1955 for the Marathi movie Ram Ram Pavhane. Later in the 1960s, she composed music for following Marathi movies under the pseudonym of Anand Ghan.
1960 - Ram Ram Pavhana
1963 - Maratha Tituka Melvava
1963 - Mohityanchi Manjula
1965 - Sadhi Manase
1969 - Tambadi Mati
She won Maharashtra State Government's Best Music Director Award for the film Sadhi Manase. The song "Airanichya Deva Tula" from the same film received best song award.
Lata Mangeshkar