Nightingale of India Lata Mangeshkar passes away at 92

By: WE Staff | Monday, 7 February 2022

Lata Mangeshkar, India's most loved singer who once moved Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to tears, leaves behind a nation of teary-eyed admirers who grew up listening to her immutable voice give wings to poets' words and legions of heroines' screen careers.

India's Melody Queen, who also produced and composed music for Marathi films, died on Sunday morning at the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai, where she had been admitted on January 11 due to Covid-related complications.

Lata Didi, as she was affectionately known among her family and fans, died at the age of 92, leaving behind her siblings, including popular singer and restaurateur Asha Bhosale, playback singer and composer Meena Khadilkar, singer Usha Mangeshkar, and music director Hridayanath Mangeshkar.

She never married, but she was close to Raj Singh Dungarpur, an aristocratic former cricketer who served as President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) from 1996 to 1999.

Lata Mangeshkar is one of India's most well-known singers, having won three National Film Awards, seven Filmfare Awards, and, of course, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1989. In 2001, she was awarded the Bharat Ratna, making her the second singer after M.S. Subbulakshmi to receive this honour, and she was also awarded the Officer of the Legion of Honour by the French.

In 1974, Lata Mangeshkar became the first Indian to perform at the Royal Albert Hall in London. She'd come a long way since the first song she recorded for a film, 'Kiti Hasaal,' in 1942, was cut from the final cut.