Remembering the doyen of playback singing, Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar, on her birth anniversary on 28th September; the Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi paid tribute to the legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar.

Reminiscing about his bond with the late singer, PM posted on X: “Remembering Lata Didi on her birth anniversary. She will always live on in the hearts and minds of people due to her soulful songs. Lata Didi and I had a special bond. I have been fortunate to receive her affection and blessings.”

A true ambassador of Indian culture, Lata’s musical excellence is admired across generations. Her melodies and legacy will keep her alive in the hearts of music lovers.

It is the voice that no Indian can miss. Delightfully high, the notes rendered clearly to the last bar, the words pronounced with a distinctive flair, her voice has always haunted listeners for nearly eight decades, and many more to come. It attracted them everywhere be the film shows, restaurants, carnivals, parties, religious fests, and ceremonies-undoubtedly, she emerged as Bollywood’s one-woman voice.

She is considered one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. Her voice was one of the unifying elements of the people of India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal. Lata Mangeshkar (born September 28, 1929, Indore, British India—died February 6, 2022, Mumbai, India) was a legendary Indian playback singer. She was noted for her vocal range over more than three octaves. She was the first-ever Indian to perform live at the iconic Royal Albert Hall in London. In the 1974 edition of the Guinness Book of Records, she was listed as the most recorded artist, having sung thousands of songs.

Lata Mangeshkar was the first child of Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar and Shevanti (Shudhamati). Known to millions as the “Nightingale of India”, Lata was the eldest of the other Mangeshkar siblings – sisters Meena Khadikar, Asha Bhosle, Usha Mangeshkar, and brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar, also being celebrated vocalists and musicians.

She was always a flawless singer and never listened to her songs as she feared finding faults within those songs rendered by her. However, she was rejected as a playback singer when she entered the film industry because her voice was considered too thin at the time when other singers ruled with their heavy nasal voices. Her ‘Aayega Aanewala’ song from the movie Mahal in 1949 gave her much-needed stardom.

As her father was a theatre actor and classical singer, she was exposed to music at a very young age. Born with the initial name Hema, she was later renamed Lata, inspired by a character- LATIKA’s name as enacted in one of her father’s plays. In 1955, she also composed the first music of her life for a Marathi film and went on to compose music for numerous Marathi films under the pen name Anand Ghan. Lata Mangeshkar was an ardent Cricket fan; nominated Rajya Sabha MP; conferred with India’s top Bharat Ratna, Dada Saheb Phalke, Padma Vibhushan Awards; the Guinness Book of Records listed her as the most recorded artist for having sung around 25,000 songs; and her last song recorded is ‘Saugandh Mujhe Is Mitti Ki’ -as a tribute to the Indian Army. She also dedicated one of her patriotic songs ‘Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon’ to the soldiers who lost their lives in the 1962 war. Her passionate and mesmerizing voice then moved the PM of India Mr J L Nehru to tears in New Delhi.