Lata Mangeshkar

Lata Mangeshkar (Hindi pronunciation: [ləˈt̪aː məŋˈɡeːʃkəɾ] ^ⓘ; born Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. Her contribution to the Indian music industry in a career spanning eight decades gained her honorific titles such as the "Queen of Melody" and "Voice of the Millennium".

Mangeshkar recorded songs in over thirty-six Indian languages and a few foreign languages, though primarily in Hindi, Bengali and Marathi. She received several accolades and honors throughout her career. 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, becoming only the second singer to receive India's highest civilian honour. In 2009, France made her an Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honour, the country's highest civilian award.

She was the recipient of three National Film Awards, 15 Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards, four Filmfare Best Female Playback Awards, before declining further ones, two Filmfare Special Awards, the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award amongst others. In 1974, she became the first Indian playback singer to perform at the Royal Albert Hall in London, England.

She appeared in the Guinness World Records as the most recorded artist in history before being replaced by her sister, Asha Bhosle.

Mangeshkar was born on 28 September 1929in Indore (in the present-day Indore district of Madhya Pradesh), then the capital of the princely state of Indore which was part of the Central India Agency in British India.

Her father, Deenanath Mangeshkar was a Marathi and Konkani classical singer and theatre actor. Deenanath's father was Ganesh Bhatt Bhikoba (Bhikambhatt) Navathe Hardikar (Abhisheki), a Karhade Brahmin who served as a priest at the famous Mangeshi Temple in Goa. Deenanath's mother Yesubai was his father's mistress belonging to the Devadasi community of Goa, a matrilineal community of temple artists now known as Gomantak Maratha Samaj. As a Devadasi, Yesubai was a reputed musician. Deenanath's father's surname was Hardikar. Deenanath had taken the surname Mangeshkar, based on the name of his ancestral village, Mangeshi in Goa.

Her mother, Shevanti (later renamed Shudhamati), was a Gujarati woman from Thalner, Bombay Presidency (now in northwest Maharashtra). Shevanti was Deenanath's second wife; his first wife Narmada, who had died before his marriage to Shevanti, was Shevanti's older sister. Her maternal grandfather, Seth Haridas Ramdas Lad, was from Gujarat, a prosperous businessman and landlord of Thalner. She learned Gujarati folk songs such as garbas of Pavagadh from her maternal grandmother.

Lata was named "Hema" at her birth. Her parents later renamed her Lata after a female character, Latika, in one of her father's plays.