A prolific playback singer, Yagnik has sung the maximum number of female solos in her Bollywood career after Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle.[7] In her career spanning over four decades she has sung songs for more than one thousand films and recorded over 22,000 songs in over 25 different languages.[citation needed]
Yagnik the most popular artist on the platform, with 17 billion streams in 2021 and 16.6 billion in 2020.[8]
Early life
Yagnik was born in Kolkata on 20 March 1966 to a Gujarati family.[9] Her father's name is Dharmendra Shankar.[10][11] Her mother Shubha was a singer of Indian classical music. In 1972 at age six, she started singing for Akashvani (All India Radio), Calcutta.[9][12] At age 10, her mother brought her to Mumbai as a child singer. She was advised to wait until her voice matured, but her mother remained determined. On a subsequent visit, Yagnik got a letter of introduction to Raj Kapoor from his Kolkata distributor. Kapoor heard the girl and sent her with a letter to noted music director Laxmikant Shantaram Kudalkar. Impressed, Laxmikant gave her two alternatives – an immediate start as a dubbing artist or a later break as a singer; Shubha chose the latter for her daughter.[13] Yagnik mentioned that she was a bright student but didn't like studies.[10]
Career
Alka Yagnik began singing at the age of four and was trained in classical music. She has sung romantic, sad, peppy, and item number songs across a career spanning more than four decades.[14] Yagnik frequently sang duets with Kumar Sanu, followed by Udit Narayan and Sonu Nigam, and is regarded as a leading female playback singer of the 1990s.[15] She has credited veteran composers Lakshmikant-Pyarelal and Kalyanji-Anandji for mentoring and shaping her voice.[16][17]
She also appeared in Star Voice of India as a judge.[9] She appears as a guest with Udit Narayan in Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L'il Champs.[41]
She has also been a judge on fame gurukul, superstar singer 2, super singer plus,sa re ga ma pa-2009 and Indian idol and 2 seasons of Bengali sa re ga ma pa
↑"Alka_Yagnik". Alkayagnik.co.in. Archived from the original on 5 September 2012. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
↑Number, A Hit (16 October 2011). "Fine Tuning". The Telegraph, Calcutta, India. Archived from the original on 18 October 2011. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
↑"About Me". Alka Yagnik. 2008. Archived from the original on 5 September 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2008.
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