Alka Yagnik

Alka Yagnik (born March 20, 1966 in Calcutta, West Bengal, India) is an Indian singer. She is born into a Gujarati family. Both her parents were well versed in classical music.

Career

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.
For the past decade, Alka Yagnik has reigned supreme in the world of playback singing in India. While Asha Bhosle and Lata Mangeshkar remain the living legends of Bollywood, both are recording less now so Alka has stepped into their formidable shoes. In India Alka has had hit after hit and is the playback voice all Bollywood's leading female film stars want dubbed over their performance.

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.

All through the '80's 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. Since then she has become the most in-demand singer in Bollywood. Recently she entered the world of Indi-Pop and was just as successful there.From 90's Alka Yagnik is classically credited as sweet melodious singer after Lata Mangeshkar

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