The famous playback singer, Asha Bhonsle has sung over 20,000 songs in practically every Indian language and also in English. She has a unique style of singing.
Asha was born on 8th September, 1933 in Goar, Maharastra to a family of musicians, the Mangeshkar’s. Asha started her career in her elder sister Lata Mangeshkar’s shadow. Her first song was from the movie ‘Chunaria’ (1948) and her first solo was for the movie ‘Raat Ki Raani’ (1949).
In the beginning her talents were not known much and it was music directors like O.P. Nayyar and R.D. Burman who gave her a chance and helped Asha to get out of the image of her sister. With O.P.Nayyar, Asha has given a lot of unforgettable songs to the Hindi film industry for the last five decades. She has a unique voice- a sexy, cheerful style of singing of her own.
Asha has also sung for private albums; Hindi pop and ghazals. She is at ease with both ghazals as well as fast numbers.
Asha has received accolades of awards for her talent. National Award twice in 1981 for ‘ Dil Cheez Kya Hain’ (Umrao Jaan) and in 1986 for ‘Mera Kuch Samaan’ (Ijazat), the Filmfare award eight times, from 1967 to 1977 besides many other awards. She was the first Indian Singer to be nominated for the Grammy Award in 1997 and in 2001 she won the Dada Saheb Phalke Award and Dayawati Modi Award.
