Mahendra Kapoor was famed Indian playback singer who is remembered for a number of enchanting Hindi film melodies. A winner of National Film Award, his career spanned for a period of five decades in which he formed a repertoire of about 25000 songs. Apart from Hindi he had sung in many regional languages too. His romantic as well as patriotic songs garnered huge popularity in the arena of Indian cinema. Songs like "Chalo Ek Baar Phir Se" from Gumrah, "Neele Gagan Ke Tale" from Hamraaz and "Mere Desh Ki Dharti" from Upkaar are some of his chartbuster songs. For his contributions in the music industry he was awarded Padma Shri by the Government of India.

Early Life of Mahendra Kapoor
Mahendra Kapoor was born on 9th January 1934 in Amritsar, however he soon shifted to Mumbai. He was inspired by the acclaimed singer Mohammed Rafi since an early age and began learning classical music under the tutelage of Pt. Tulsidaas Sharma, Ustad Abdul Rehman Khan, Ustad Niaz Ahmed Khan, Pt. Jagannath Bua and Pt. Hussanlal.

Career of Mahendra Kapoor
Mahendra Kapoor carved a distinct niche for himself in music with his unique style and won the Metro Murphy All-India singing competition. This opened for him the gateway to film industry and he marked his debut as a playback singer in 1958 with V. Shantaram"s Navrang. In the movie he sang the song "Aadha Hai Chandrama Raat Aadhi", composed by C. Ramchandra. Some of the most memorable songs were sung by him in the films Purab Aur Paschim, Upkaar, Dhund, Hamraaz, Waqt, Gumrah and Dhool Ka Phool. His vocal range was vast for which he was often referred as "the Vibrant Voice of India". He was also credited as the first Indian playback singer who recorded music in English. A group called Boney M asked him to sing their songs in Hindi along with Musarat from Pakistan for the Pop Album M-3.

Mahendra Kapoor had also voiced the duet "Kaisi Haseen Aaj Baharon Ki Raat" along with Mohammed Rafi for the 1967 flick Aadmi. The song was originally recorded by Rafi and Talat Mehmood but Manoj Kumar, who was one of the lead actors in the movie, refused to use Talat"s voice for him. Thus the song was re-recorded and Mahendra Kapoor replaced Talat. Mahendra Kapoor also lent his voice to chopaiyan, mantras and dohas. He also sang the title track of 1988 TV series Mahabharat. He had also sung songs for regional film industries including Marathi, Punjabi and Gujarati. In Marathi movies he frequently used to sing for the famous actor Dada Kondke, in addition to many other leading stars.

Personal Life of Mahendra Kapoor
Mahendra Kapoor was married and the couple had three daughters and one son. His son Rohan Kapoor is a singer and actor by profession and has acted in films like Love 86, Imandaar and Faasle. He has also performed in stage shows along with his father.

Death of Mahendra Kapoor
Mahendra Kapoor died on 27th September 2008 owing to a cardiac failure.

Achievements of Mahendra Kapoor