Lata Mangeshkar is a singer and music composer from India with a career that has spanned more than seven decades. She is the second Indian vocalist to have been awarded the Bharat Ratna, the nation`s highest civilian honour. Lata Mangeshkar presented the "Laadli Voice of the Century" award during the sixth edition of the national Laadli Media and Advertising Awards for Gender Sensitivity.

Lata Mangeshkar has also been honoured with the prestigious Yash Chopra Memorial award by Manish Tewari, the current Information and Broadcasting Minister on 19th October, 2013. Although she sang mainly for Hindi language and Marathi language films, Lata Mangeshkar`s popularity and influence transcends barriers of region and language. She has sung various kinds of songs in 36 major Indian languages. Lata Mangeshkar is also popularly referred to as the `Nightingale of India`. Lata Mangeshkar`s name had appeared in the Guinness Book of World Records from the year 1974 till 1991 for having the maximum recordings in the world to her credit.

Early Life of Lata Mangeshkar
Lata was born in Indore, in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh on 28th September, 1929 into a middle-class Maharashtrian family. She was the first born child and daughter of Pandit Dinanath Mangeshkar and Shudhmati Mangeshkar, who was also referred to as Shevanti. Her father was a theatre actor and classical singer. Her siblings are Hridayanath Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Usha Mangeshkar and Meena Mangeshkar. All of the siblings, except Meena, chose music as their careers. When Lata was 5 years old, Lata started working as an actress in several plays known as `sangeet nataks` in which her father was performing. Her father also began giving her singing lessons when at that age. Lata Mangeshkar had been born as `Hema`. However, she was later renamed as Lata, inspired from the name of `Latika`, which was a female character of `BhaawBandhan`, one of the plays of her father.

Early Career of Lata Mangeshkar
Lata Mangeshkar`s first music lessons were imbibed from Dinanath Mangeshkar, her father. She worked as an actress in certain musical plays directed by her father, at the tender age o f five. The plays were known as `Sangeet Natak` in Marathi language. It is said that on the very first day in her school, Lata had made an attempt to tutor other children in the field of music. When she was reprimanded by the teacher, she was so irritated that she discontinued attending school.


Achievements of Lata Mangeshkar
The songs sung by Lata Mangeshkar have been applauded across the globe, particularly for the brilliant quality of her voice and her perfection displayed, at the rendition of the songs.

Singing Career of Lata Mangeshkar during 1940`s Lata Mangeshkar`s first cinematic song was for the film `Kiti Hasaal` (1942), produced by Vasant Joglekar. In 1946, Vasant Joglekar employed Lata to sing for his film `Aapki Seva Mein`. The popular songs composed by musician Datta Daavjekar established Lata as a leading playback singer in Bollywood. She reinforced her position with hits from the movie `Majboor - Angrezi chhora chala gaya`, `Dil mera toda Haaye` and, `mujhe kahinka na choda tere pyaar ne`. `Mata Ek Sapoot Ki Duniya Badal De Tu` was the first Hindi song which was sung by this veteran singer, and this song was for a Marathi movie named `Gajaabhaau` (1943). Ghulam Haider requested Lata to sing a song named `Dil Mera Toda` for his film `Majboor` (1948). `Aayega Aanewaala` was one of the super hit songs of this legendary singer, which she had sung for the film `Mahal` (1949). The beautiful actress Madhubala had lip synced to this song. She had sung for famous music directors like Khayyam, S D Burman, Salil Chowdhury, Hemanta Kumar, A.R. Rahman and several others.

Singing Career of Lata Mangeshkar during 1950`s
During this period, Lata Mangeshkar was a playback singer who sang for innumerable Hindi films like `Tarana`, `Heer` (for which she worked for the music director Anil Biswas), `Lal Bhagat`, `Choti Bhabi`, `Afsana`, `Meena Bazar`, `Aadhi Raat`, `Adal-e-Jahangir`, `Bari Behan` (for which she sang for directors like S.D. Burman, Naushad Ali and Shankar Jaikishan. C. Ramachandra, Madan Mohan, Usha Khanna, Vasant Desai were amongst the many other music directors with whom she had worked. During 1956, she sang her debut Tamil playback song, `Enthan Kannalan`, wherein Naushad was its music director. Lata Mangeshkar has been admired for her raga-bases songs in movies like `Mughal-e-Azam` (1960), `Baiju Bawra`, (1952) and `Kohinoor` (1960). This playback singer received a Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer for singing `Aaja Re Pardesi`, which had been a creation of Salil Choudhury, from the film `Madhumati` (1958).

Singing Career of Lata Mangeshkar during 1960`s
Lata Mangeshkar was praised for her beautiful songs like `Ajeeb Dastaan Hai Yeh` from `Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai` (1960) composed by Shankar Jaikishan, `Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya` from movie `Mughal-E-Azam`, `bhajans` like `Prabhu Tero Naam` and `Allah Tero Naam`, `Kahin Deep Jale Kahin Dil` from the movie `Bees Saal Baad` composed by talented director Hemant Kumar, and much more. She sang `Aye Mere Watan Ke Logon` on 27th June, 1963 in an event which was attended by the then Prime Minister of the country, Jawaharlal Nehru. Composed by C.Ramachandra, it was much appreciated by Jawaharlal Nehru. She is also respected for her songs like `Aaj Phir Jeene Ki Tamanna Hai`, `Gata Rahe Mera Dil` (which are duets with singer Kishore Kumar), `Piya Tose` from the film `Guide` (1965) and her songs with music director R.D.Burman. She also sang several Marathi songs for Marathi films as well as for Kannada movies. Her song `Bellane Belagayithu` for the Kannada movie `Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna` was admired.

Singing Career of Lata Mangeshkar during 1970`s
Lata Mangeshkar`s songs like `Inhi Logon Ne` and `Chalte Chalte` from the movie `Pakeezah` composed by Ghulam Mohammed and songs from films like `Sharmilee` (1971), `Abhimaan` (1973), `Laila Majnu` (1976) and others won her vast recognition. Some of the most popular songs sung by Lata Mangeshwar during this decade had been composed by Rahul Dev Barman and Laxmikant Pyarelal. During 1973, Lata Mangeshkar was offered the National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer for her song `Beeti Na Bitai` from `Parichay` which was composed by R.D. Burman. She started appearing for several overseas concerts like Royal Albert Hall, London in the year 1974. She had sung `Satyam Shivam Sundaram` for the film `Satyam Shivam Sundaram` which had been directed by Raj Kapoor. Lata Mangeshkar has also rendered many songs in Assamese language and is said to have been in cordial terms like the late Bhupen Hazarika, winner of the Dada Saheb Phalke award.

Singing Career of Lata Mangeshkar during 1980`s and 1990`s
During this time period, Lata Mangeshkar`s career consisted of songs which made her work with music directors like Shiv-Hari, Ram-Laxman in films like `Ye Kesa Farz` (1985), `Maine Pyar Kiya` (1989), etc. During 1988, she sand `Aaraaro Aaaraaro` directed by Ilayaraja. She delivered some distinguished songs along with directors like Anu Malik, A.R. Rahman, Jatin Lalit, Anand-Milind, Aadesh Srivastava, Uttam Singh and others. She had sung with singers like Sonu Nigam, Udit Narayan, Abhijeet Bhattacharya,Vinod Rathore, Gurdas Maan, Hariharan, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and others. She had also rendered many ghazals along with Jagjit Singh. The National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer was awarded to her for her song `Yaara Sili Sili` from the film `Lekin...` which was directed by Gulzar. She lent her voice for a number of Hindi movies, which are immensely popular throughout the nation. She launched her debut musical album, on bhajans, on 28th November, 2012, wherein she has sung songs with Usha Mangeshkar, her sister.

Awards and Recognitions of Lata Mangeshkar
Lata Mangeshkar has won several awards and honours.

Padma Bhushan (1969)

Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award (1993)

Padma Vibhushan (1999)

Dada Saheb Phalke Awards (1989)

Maharashtra Bhushan Award (1997)

NTR National Award (1999)

Bharat Ratna (2001),

ANR National Award (2009), three National Film Awards

12 Bengal Film Journalists` Association Awards

Filmfare Best Female Playback Awards

2015 Laadli Voice of the Century"

In 1974, The Guinness Book of Records listed Lata Mangeshkar as the most recorded artist in the history. However, in 2011 Asha Bhosle was officially acknowledged by Guinness as the most recorded artist in music history, surpassing Mangeshkar.

Non-singing career of Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar debuted as a music composer in 1955 for the Marathi movie “Ram Ram Pavhane”. Later in the 1960s, she composed music for numerous hit Marathi movies under the pseudonym of Anand Ghan. Lata Mangeshkar won the Maharashtra State Government`s Best Music Director Award for the film Marathi film “Sadhi Manase”.

Lata Mangeshkar has also produced four films during her career. The films are listed below.

1953 - Vaadal (Marathi)

1953 - Jhaanjhar (Hindi), co-produced with C. Ramchandra

1953 - 1955 - Kanchan Ganga (Hindi)

1990 - Lekin... (Hindi)

Death of Lata Mangeshkar
On 8 January 2022, Lata Mangeshkar tested positive for COVID-19 with mild symptoms and was hospitalized for a few days. Mangeshkar died from multiple organ dysfunction syndrome on 6 February 2022, at the age of 92. She had undergone 28 days of constant treatment for pneumonia and COVID-19.