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As admirers of Hindi Film Music, we have grown up listening to some of the most spellbinding and enchanting melodies sung by the Bollywood playback Stalwarts. There are innumerable songs in the treasury of Hindi Film Music which won accolades and appreciation for winning over millions of hearts the world around.

Here we’ll be talking about some evergreen legends from our Bollywood Music industry.

1. Lata Mangeshkar

We all know her as the Nightingale of India. A sensational singer and a phenomenal composer dearly loved by all generations of music lovers. Lata Mangeshkar has sung for over a thousand films, more than that she has sung in over thirty-six regional and foreign languages. Her name is entered into the Guinness world book of records as the only artist in music history who has exceeded the recording limits, having recorded more than eleven thousand solo songs in more than twenty Indian languages. Our well-loved nightingale has been bedecked with the Bharat Ratna, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan and Dadasaheb Phalke Award among others.

2. Mohammad Rafi

A music icon still loved and imitated by so many aspiring vocalists from today’s generation, he is the most popular playback singer in the Hindi Music industry. He sang over 7000 songs, not only in Hindi but in English, Arabic, Dutch and French among others. He won the Padma Shri and six other Filmfare Awards. Rafi was not just a brilliant singer but an amazing human being at heart with the perfect voice, training, diction, modulation, and expression, though he’s no more alive, the musical legacy created by him is going to stay with us for eternity.

3. Kumar Shanu

The celebrated singing star Kumar Shanu begun his career singing in restaurants around Calcutta in 1979. You’d find his name in the Guinness Book of World Records for making an unbeatable record of recording the maximum number of songs in a day, around 28 of them in total. Even now Kumar Shanu is regarded as a shining gem amongst the playback singers. He is one of the very few singers who has been casting his spell since the past four decades. Shanu was awarded the best male playback singer in Filmfare awards for five consecutive years and the Padma Shri award for his achievements by the Indian government. Some of his famous work like “Dil Ne Yeh Kaha Hai Dilse”, “Dil Ka Rishta”, “Aankhon Mein Base Ho Tum” etc prove how mellifluous and magical his voice really is.

4. Shreya Ghoshal

Shreya Ghoshal’s singing talent was first recognized at the tender age of sixteen when she participated in the SaReGaMaPa reality show. Sanjay Leela Bhansali the director felt her singing skills to be absolutely perfect for casting her as a playback singer. He gave her the opportunity to sing for the movie Devdas. That is how her journey began. She has bagged six Filmfare awards, nine Filmfare awards(South) for best female playback singer, four national film awards among other major awards. We get to know about her rising fame as a singer from the fact that she became the first Indian singer to have a wax statue of hers displayed at Madame Tussauds Museum London. Apart from the Bollywood industry, she’s quite a prominent singer for the Tollywood music industry including Bengali, Tamil, Telegu etc.

5. Udit Narayan.

Hailing from a small town in Nepal, Udit Narayan has made a prominent mark in the industry. He started his Bollywood career in 1980 after being chosen by music director Rajesh Roshan to sing for the movie Unees-Bees alongside the legend Mohammad Rafi himself. Narayan has sung for the biggest stars in Bollywood including Amitabh Bachchan, Dev Anand, & Rajesh Khanna. Besides Nepali and Hindi, he has been seen singing in more than 36 languages. Being the only male singer in the history of Filmfare awards to have won over three decades, he has three national film awards, five Filmfare awards, the Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan awarded by the government to his credit.

6. Asha Bhosle

Sister of Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle has been renowned for her voice range and versatility. She has been heard attempting numerous genres like pop, classical, qawwali, folk, Rabindra Sangeet etc. Having done playback singing for more than a 1000 movies, she was awarded by the Govt. of India with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke in 2000 and Padma Vibhushan in 2010. Not only is she a remarkable singer but she’s also an astounding cook and a brilliant actor, as she made her acting debut with a film called ‘Mai’ in the title role and received lots of appreciation for it.

7. Sonu Nigam

Born in Haryana, Nigam began his career at an early age of four. He’s also popularly called the Aamir Khan of Bollywood, a singer who’s known to create magic with every song that he plans to sing. Trained by his father an expert musician Agam Kumar Nigam and the Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan, Sonu gained success and fame quite early in life. One of the highest paid, versatile singers in the industry,  he has been awarded around ninety to hundred awards and honors and has also tried his hand at acting.

8. Alisha Chinai

We also know Alisha Chinai as the Madonna or Baby Doll of Hindi Film Music. Alisha was introduced to the Hindi Music scenario by the well-acclaimed music director and composer Bappi Lahiri. Primarily a pop singer she has innumerable disco hits with Bappi da to her credit. However, she’s best known for her songs with Anu Malik in the 1990’s. She has lip-synced songs for plenty of leading actresses in Bollywood and received the honorary best Female Playback Award for the song ‘Kajra Re’ from (Bunty Aur Babli) 2005, as well as the International billboard Award around the time her ‘Made in India’ album came out. Later she got awarded with the Freddie Mercury Award for Artistic Excellence.

9. Sunidhi Chauhan

Chauhan began her musical journey at a tender age of four, later her real talent was discovered in the reality show ‘Meri Awaz Suno’. She made her career debut alongside Udit Narayan with the song ‘Ladki Dewani Dekho’ at the mere age of thirteen. She was trained in classical music from the maestro Gautam Mukherjee but her extraordinary vocal range has always been best suited for pop, hip-hop and R&B genres. Her first solo album ‘Aira Gaira Nathu Khaira’ when released, gained a lot of fame as the best children’s album. Her awards include three Filmfares and one R.D Burman Award for New Music Talent.

10. Atif Aslam

Atif Aslam was born into a Punjabi Muslim family in Wazirabad, Punjab, Pakistan. He has taken over the Hindi Music scenario at present and is truly a gift to Bollywood. His first album ‘ Jal Pari’ meaning mermaid which released way back in 2004 was an instant hit in the subcontinent and rocked the music charts everywhere. Aslam’s songs have also been featured in Hollywood movies like the ‘Man Push Cart’, ‘Spanish Beauty’ and the ‘Reluctant Fundamentalist’. Since 2005 he’s been nominated for around twenty-five awards out of which he’s been awarded nineteen.

For these illustrious singers and composers, it was not just their exceptional talent that turned them into who they are, but their devotion, ardent dedication and the enormous amount of hard work and toil which they put, helped shape them up as the singing stars. To listen to these singing sensations or to play musical games visit GaanaP and download the App now!!

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