Alka Yagnik

Born to Gujaratis who were based in Calcutta, Alka s mother Shubha Yagnik was a singer of Indian classical music. Shubha was determined her daughter succeed as a singer. Alka started singing for Calcutta Radio aged six. Aged ten, Alka s mother brought her to Bombay to try her luck in films as a child singer. She was advised to wait till her voice matured but her mother remained determined and on a subsequent visit Alka got a letter of introduction to Raj Kapoor from his Calcutta distributor. Raj heard the girl and sent her with a letter to noted producer Laxmikant. Impressed, Laxmikant gave her two alternatives - an immediate start as a dubbing artist, or a later break as a full - fledged singer. The Yagniks settled for the latter.
Alka Yagnik is classically trained, and has been one of the leading playback singers in Bollywood since the late 1980 s. Alka began singing bhajans for Calcutta Radio at the age of six. She came to Mumbai and started singing for film like Payal Ki Jhankaar (1979), Laawaris...

Born to Gujaratis who were based in Calcutta, Alka s mother Shubha Yagnik was a singer of Indian classical music. Shubha was determined her daughter succeed as a singer. Alka started singing for Calcutta Radio aged six. Aged ten, Alka s mother brought her to Bombay to try her luck in films as a child singer. She was advised to wait till her voice matured but her mother remained determined and on a subsequent visit Alka got a letter of introduction to Raj Kapoor from his Calcutta distributor. Raj heard the girl and sent her with a letter to noted producer Laxmikant. Impressed, Laxmikant gave her two alternatives - an immediate start as a dubbing artist, or a later break as a full - fledged singer. The Yagniks settled for the latter.
Alka Yagnik is classically trained, and has been one of the leading playback singers in Bollywood since the late 1980 s. Alka began singing bhajans for Calcutta Radio at the age of six. She came to Mumbai and started singing for film like Payal Ki Jhankaar (1979), Laawaris (1981) with the song Mere Angene Mein, and Hamari Bahu Alka (1982). She got her big break with the song Ek Do Teen from the film Tezaab (1988). The song turned her into a star overnight and went on to become a pop hit. She also received her first Filmfare Best Female Playback Award for the song.
All through the 1980s Alka kept singing in films, yet hits eluded her. It was in 1988 that she got her breakthrough with the song that was to become a Bollywood classic Ek Do Teen Char. Additionally, she has sung in many languages other than Hindi, including Punjabi, Bengali, and Marathi. She has also been the judge of various Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge shows, and Star Voice of India, both singing competition shows, in which children or adults of various age groups compete with one another to win the award for best vocals. In addition to this, her song, Chamma Chamma from China Gate was featured in the soundtrack of the acclaimed film Moulin Rouge ,in the song Hindi Sad Diamonds .

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