Alka Yagnik Indian Singer Born 1966 in Kolkata

Early life

Alka Yagnik was born on 20 March 1966 in Kolkata, into a Gujarati family. Her mother, Shubha, was a singer of Indian classical music, and Yagnik received training in classical music from a young age. In 1972, at the age of six by her own account, she began singing for Akashvani, All India Radio's station in Calcutta. She attended Modern High School for Girls and has said that she did well at school but did not enjoy studying.

When she was ten, her mother took her to Mumbai to try for work as a child singer. She was advised to wait for her voice to mature, but her mother stayed determined. On a later visit she obtained a letter of recommendation to the film-maker Raj Kapoor from his distributor in Kolkata. Kapoor listened to her and sent her with a letter to the music director Laxmikant Shantaram Kudalkar, who offered two options: begin at once as a dubbing artist, or wait for a later start as a singer. Her mother chose the second.

Career

Yagnik became a playback singer who worked mainly in Hindi cinema, with a career that began in the 1980s and continued into the 2010s. She sang romantic, sad, up-tempo and item-number songs, and she is regarded as a leading female playback singer of the 1990s. She often recorded duets with Kumar Sanu, followed by Udit Narayan and Sonu Nigam. She has named the composers Laxmikant-Pyarelal and Kalyanji-Anandji as mentors who shaped her voice.

Among her early successes was "Ek Do Teen" from the film Tezaab in 1988. "Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai" from Khalnayak in 1993 is one of her best-known songs, and she also appeared on screen in that film, her only listed acting credit. Her other signature recordings include "Ghoongat Ki Aad Se" from Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke in 1993, "Zara Tasveer Se Tu" from Pardes and "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" from the film of the same name, both in 1998, "Taal Se Taal" from Taal in 2000, "Dil Ne Yeh Kaha Hai Dil Se" from Dhadkan in 2001, "O Re Chhori" from Lagaan in 2002 and "Hum Tum" from Hum Tum in 2005. The single "Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna" is dated to 2006 in the records used for this site, and her music is classed under Indian classical music and bhajan.

Apart from singing, Yagnik has judged singing reality shows on television, including Star Voice of India, and has appeared as a guest, together with Udit Narayan, on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L'il Champs. Several of her film soundtracks were included in the BBC's list of the forty best Bollywood soundtracks of all time. Guinness World Records referred to her as the most popular music artist on YouTube, giving a figure of 17 billion streams for 2021 and 16.6 billion for 2020. Publications such as Rolling Stone, The Times of India, Hindustan Times and Mid-Day have written about her voice and range. She has sung more female solo songs in Bollywood than any singer apart from Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle.

Recognition

Yagnik has received two National Film Awards for Best Female Playback Singer, for "Ghoongat Ki Aad Se" and "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai". She holds seven Filmfare Awards in the same category, for the songs "Ek Do Teen", "Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai", "Zara Tasveer Se Tu", "Taal Se Taal", "Dil Ne Yeh Kaha Hai Dil Se", "O Re Chhori" and "Hum Tum", and the awards came from a total of 36 nominations. She has also won two Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards. In 2013 she was given the Lata Mangeshkar Award for her contribution to music, and in 2026 the Government of India awarded her the Padma Bhushan.

Colleagues including Lata Mangeshkar, Sunidhi Chauhan, Shaan, Sonu Nigam and the composer A. R. Rahman have spoken in public about her vocal ability.

Personal life

Yagnik married a businessman based in Shillong in 1989, and the couple have a daughter.