Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar (born September 28, 1929) is a singer of Indian film music. Born at Indore to a Maharashtrian family, Lata was forced to sing (by her father's death) at a very tender age. Lata had to shoulder the huge responsibility of her whole family. Lata Mangeshkar, also called the Nightingale of India. She has sung over 50,000 songs in 20 Indian languages.


Lata Mangeshkar (sitting leftmost) with her family

She was an instant hit with Naushad's 1940 compositions and from then the charisma of her voice kept growing. If there is one thing both Indians and Pakistanis agree upon, it is Lata's voice. Both of them regard Lata as the Queen of Melody.

Holding the Guinness record for the maximum number of recordings (more than 50,000), she has worked with almost all the music composers in India, right from the legendary Naushad to the child progidy, AR Rahman.

She is known for her extraordinary rendition of Aye mere watan ke logon at an army camp during the Indo-Chinese battle in 1962.

See also

She has won several cultural awards in India including the Dadasaheb Phalke Award (1990) , Kalidas Samman, and Maharashtra Puraskar.

Lata's sister Asha Bhosle and her brother Hridayanath Mangeshkar are also big names in the world of Indian music.