Famously known as Lata Didi, her original name was Hema Mangeshkar. She was born on 28th September 1929 in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. was the eldest daughter of classical singer and theatre actor Deenanath Mangeshkar also a Marathi and Konkani musician.
Lata Mangeshkar is a gem of India contributing hugely to the Indian music industry for seven decades gaining the title of Nightingale of India & Queen of Melody. She sang over thirty-six Indian languages and a few foreign languages.
There are unending lists of her achievements including thousands of songs and awards. Here is the summary
MAJOR AWARD RECOGNITIONS
Lata Mangeshkar has won several awards and honours during her lifetime, it included
- Padma Bhushan (1969)
- Padma Vibhushan (1999)
- Zee Cine Award for Lifetime Achievements (1999)
- Dadasaheb Phalke Award (1989)
- Maharashtra Bhushan Award (1997)
- NTR National Award (1999)
- The Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, 2001
- Legion of Honour (2007)
- ANR National Award (2009)
- 3 National Film Awards
- 15 Bengal Film Journalists’ Association Awards.
- In 1984, the State Government of Madhya Pradesh instituted the Lata Mangeshkar Award in honour of Lata Mangeshkar.
- The State Government of Maharashtra also instituted a Lata Mangeshkar Award in 1992.
- In 2009, Mangeshkar was awarded the title of Officer of the French Legion of Honour, France’s highest order.
There are several other awards received for best playback singing.
MUSICAL JOURNEY OF LATA MANGESHKAR
1934 – Since the age of 5 years, she started to work as an actress in her father’s musical plays – Sangeet Natak in Marathi.
1942 – At age of 13, after the death of Lata Mangeshkar’s father, Master Vinayak Damodar Karnataki owner of Navyug Chitrapat movie company took her responsibility careerwise to start singing and acting.
1945 – She moved to Mumbai and took lessons in Hindustani classical music from Ustad Aman Ali Khan of Bhindibazaar Gharana.
1945 – 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.”
1948 – After Vinayak’s death in 1948, music director Ghulam Haider mentored her as a singer. Lata Mangeshkar considers him as her Godfather.
1948 – Haider gave Lata her first major break with the song “Dil Mera Toda, Mujhe Kahin Ka Na Chhora”—lyrics by Nazim Panipati—in the movie Majboor (1948), which became her first big breakthrough film hit.
1949 – One of her first major hits was “Aayega Aanewaala,” a song in the movie Mahal (1949), composed by music director Khemchand Prakash and lip-synced on screen by actress Madhubala.
1960 – Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya” from Mughal-e-Azam (1960), composed by Naushad and lip-synced by Madhubala, Since 1960 onwards Lata Mangeshkar got in association with various famous music directors such as Laxmikant Pyarela, Madan Mohan, Shankar Jaikishan, S.D. Burman, R.D. Burman and with Marathi music directors such as her brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar, Vasant Prabhu, Srinivas Khale, Sudhir Phadke She recorded duets with her legends old singing partners such as Kishore Kumar, Mukesh, Manna Dey, Mahendra Kapoor and Mohammed Rafi.
1963 – On 27 January 1963, against the backdrop of the Sino-Indian War, Lata sang the patriotic song “Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo” in the presence of Jawaharlal Nehru, then the Prime Minister of India. The song, composed by C. Ramchandra and written by Kavi Pradeep, is said to have brought the Prime Minister to tears.
1967 – Lata Mangeshkar made her Kannada debut in 1967 for the film Kranthiveera Sangolli Rayanna by recording two songs for the music director Lakshman Berlekar.
1972 – Meena Kumari’s last film, Pakeezah, was released. It featured popular songs including “Chalte Chalte” and “Inhi Logon Ne”, sung by Lata Mangeshkar, and composed by Ghulam Mohammed.
1973 – She got her first National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer for the song “Beeti Na Bitai” from the film Parichay, composed by R. D. Burman, and written by Gulzar.
1974 – Her first concert overseas was at the Royal Albert Hall, London, in 1974 and was the first Indian to do so.
1980s onwards she worked with various music directors such as Shiv Hari (Silsila), Bhupen Hazarika, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Rahul Dev Burman, Bappi Lahiri, Mohamad Khayyam.
1990s – Lata Mangeshkar worked with Nadeem-Shravan, Jatin-Lalit, Anand-Milind, Dilip Sen-Sameer Sen, Uttam Singh, Anu Malik, Aadesh Shrivastava, Jagjit Singh, A. R. Rahman and director Yash Chopra.
1990 – Mangeshkar launched her own production house for Hindi movies which produced the Gulzar-directed movie Lekin. She won her third National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer for her rendition of the song “Yaara Sili Sili” from the film, which was composed by her brother Hridaynath.
2004 – Her last full album was from Veer-Zaara.
2019 Her last song – She recorded her last song ‘Saugandh Mujhe Is Mitti Ki’ composed by Mayuresh Pai, as a tribute to the Indian Army and nation.
SOCIAL ACHIEVEMENTS
In June 1985, the United Way of Greater Toronto invited Lata Mangeshkar to perform at Maple Leaf Gardens. At the request of Anne Murray, Lata sang her song “You Needed Me”. 12,000 attended the concert, which raised $150,000 for the charity
In 2001, she established the Master Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital in Pune, managed by the Lata Mangeshkar Medical Foundation (founded by the Mangeshkar family in October 1989).
In 2005, she designed a jewelry collection called Swaranjali, which was crafted by Adora, an Indian diamond export company. Five pieces from the collection raised £105,000 at a Christie’s auction, and a part of the money was donated for the 2005 Kashmir earthquake relief.
LATA MANGESHKAR’S OWN PRODUCTIONS:
She had produced four films:
1953 – Vaadal (Marathi)
1953 – Jhaanjhar (Hindi), co-produced with C. Ramchandra
1955 – Kanchan Ganga (Hindi)
1990 – Lekin… (Hindi)
HER LAST BREATH
Lata Mangeshkar died on 6 February 2022, from multiple organ failure after contracting COVID-19 and undergoing 28 days of treatment at the Breach Candy Hospital.
Information source: Wikipedia