Lata Mangeshkar

Few singers can claim the adoration and popularity of Lata Mangeshkar. (except, possibly Mangeshkar's sister, Asha Bhosle…) Over her decades of fame, this Indian vocalist has been heard in tens of thousands of recordings of filmi songs, light classical music, ghazals, bhajans (Hindu devotional songs) and pop tunes sung in nearly two dozen languages from the Indian subcontinent.

Born September 28, 1929, in Indore, Mangeshkar was the child of Dinanath Mangeshkar, a well-known actor and singer whose specialty was sangeet nathak, a Marathi tradition of music and theater. He began giving her singing lessons around age five, and later she began studies with Aman Ali Khan and Amanat Khan.

When Dinanath passed away in 1942, the burden of earning money for the family fell on young Lata. Lata and Asha's mother Shrimati moved to Bombay in 1944, the epicenter of film culture, in a move which greatly helped to boost the girls' burgeoning careers. Over the next six years, Lata appeared as an actress in a number of films (made in both the Hindi and Marathi languages), and shortly began work as a playback singer in the Indian film industry as well. Her breakthrough song, "Dil Mera Toda," was in the 1948 film Majboor.

Within a few short years, Lata's light and sweet voice was setting the movie industry standard. For the next 40-odd years, Lata (and sister Asha) ruled the business; Mangeshkar is an icon in part because of her superb vocal mastery, which allows her to transition seamlessly between myriad styles, from the most current pop to devotional Hindu bhajans to the love songs called ghazals, which are rooted in Islamic poetry. Such is the respect given to Mangeshkar that all of Bollywood's top composers and directors have clamored to work with her, including SD Burman, Hemant Kumar, the duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal, RD Burman and AR Rahman. —Anastasia Tsioulcas