Asha Bhosle

Along with her sister Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle is one of the true superstars of Indian music: her recordings are popular not just in South Asia, but everywhere where Bollywood films have taken hold (including the Middle East, parts of Africa, areas in Southeast Asia and anyplace where there is a South Asian diaspora community).

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Bhosle is the world's most recorded artist. Born in 1933, her career began when she was a very young girl, as she and her sister worked to support their family after their father Dinanath Mangeshkar's death. However, her first taste of real stardom came in 1957 with the release of the film Naya Daur, whose music was composed by OP Nayyar; the same year, when popular composer SD Burman had a falling out with his favorite singer, Asha's sister Lata Mangeshkar, Bhosle became Burman's muse of choice. Over the following decades, she went on to collaborate with such luminary composers as RD Burman—her husband from 1980 until his death in 1994—and AR Rahman; in fact, one of her biggest films was 1995's Rangeela, the first Hindi-language movie for which AR Rahman wrote the score.

One of Bhosle's most remarkable abilities is to absorb the essence of a film character (and of the corresponding actress) and, chameleonlike, give an individual voice to each character, from vamps to the purest heroines. Excellent ways to discover her wit and talent are on recordings like the compilation The Rough Guide to Bollywood Legends: Asha Bhosle (World Music Network) and her collaboration with the American new-music ensemble the Kronos Quartet, You've Stolen My Heart: RD Burman's Bollywood. —Anastasia Tsioulcas