Lata Mangeshkar is an Indian playback singer, and occasional music-composer. Lata Mangeshkar was born 28 September 1929 in a Marathi-speaking Gomantak Maratha family, in the princely state of Indore, part of the Central India Agency (now part of Madhya Pradesh). Her father, Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar was a classical singer and theater actor. Her mother Shevanti (Shudhamati) who was from Thalner, Maharashtra, was Deenanath’s second wife. Lata Mangeshkar is one of the best-known and most respected playback singers in India. Mangeshkar’s career started in 1942 and has spanned over seven decades. She has recorded songs for over a thousand Hindi films and has sung songs in over thirty-six regional Indian languages and foreign languages, though primarily in Marathi and Hindi. She is the elder sister of singers Asha Bhosle, Hridaynath Mangeshkar, Usha Mangeshkar and Meena Mangeshkar. India’s highest award in cinema, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, was bestowed on her in 1989 by the Government of India. She is the second vocalist, after M. S. Subbulakshmi, to have ever been awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour.
Biography
