Sharada Krishnamurthy, popularly known as Kavita Krishnamurthy or Kavita Subramaniam, is an Indian playback and classical singer. She has recorded 50,000 songs in 45 various Indian languages including Hindi,

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

, Kannada,

Rajasthani Rajasthani may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Rajasthan, a state of India * Rajasthani languages, a group of languages spoken there * Rajasthani people, the native inhabitants of the region * Rajasthani architecture * Rajasthani art ...

Bhojpuri Bhojpuri (;Bhojpuri entry, Oxford Dictionaries
, Oxford U ...

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

Odia Odia, also spelled Oriya or Odiya, may refer to: * Odia people in Odisha, India * Odia language, an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family * Odia alphabet, a writing system used for the Odia languag ...

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

, English, Urdu,

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

, Malayalam,

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

Nepali Nepali or Nepalese may refer to : Concerning Nepal * Anything of, from, or related to Nepal * Nepali people, citizens of Nepal * Nepali language, an Indo-Aryan language found in Nepal, the current official national language and a language spoken ...

Assamese Assamese may refer to: * Assamese people, a socio-ethnolinguistic identity of north-eastern India * People of Assam, multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and multi-religious people of Assam * Assamese language, one of the easternmost Indo-Aryan language ...

, Konkani,

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

and other languages. She is the recipient of four Filmfare Best Female Playback Singer Awards (winning consecutively during 1995–1997), and the Padmashri which she received in 2005. She was awarded a Doctorate (Honoris Causa) for her contributions to Indian music by Bangalore-based

Jain University Jain University, officially JAIN (Deemed-to-be University), is a private deemed-to-be-university in Bangalore, India. Originating from Sri Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain College, it was conferred the deemed-to-be-university status in 2009. In August ...

in 2015. In 1999, she married noted violinist

L. Subramaniam Lakshminarayana Subramaniam (born 23 July 1947) is an Indian violinist, composer and conductor, trained in the classical Carnatic music tradition and Western classical music. Early years Subramaniam was born in Madras, Madras Presidency, Br ...

and resides in

Bengaluru Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

Early life

Born as Sharada into a

Iyer family in New Delhi to T.S. Krishnamurthy, an employee of the Education Ministry. She began her musical training at the insistence of her aunt, Protima Bhattacharya who enrolled her to train under Surama Basu, where she was taught

Rabindra Sangeet ''Rabindra Sangeet'' ( bn, রবীন্দ্র সঙ্গীত; ), also known as Tagore Songs, are songs from the Indian subcontinent written and composed by the Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore, winner of the 1913 Nobel Prize in Li ...

. She began her formal training in Hindustani classical music under the guidance of Balram Puri, a classical singer. At the young age of eight, Kavita won a gold medal at a music competition. She won several medals participating in the Inter-Ministry Classical Competition in New Delhi in the mid-1960s.

Career

During her college days at St. Xavier College, Mumbai, she got an opportunity to record a song in the Bengali film ''

Shriman Prithviraj ''Shriman Prithviraj'' ( bn, শ্রীমান পৃথ্বীরাজ; ) is a 1973 Indian Bengali romantic comedy film starring Ayan Banerjee and Mahua Roy Choudhury, and directed by Tarun Majumdar, featuring teenage love. It has a cult ...

'' in 1971 with Lata Mangeshkar as co-singer under the auspices of the music composer and singer Hemant Kumar. Although the young Sharada aspired to work in Indian Foreign Services, she moved to Bombay when she was 14 to try her luck as a playback singer in the Hindi film industry. She is an alumnus of

St. Xavier's College A multitude of schools and universities have been named after St. Francis Xavier, a Spanish Roman Catholic saint and co-founder of the Society of Jesus. This page lists notable educational institutions named after St. Xavier, arranged by country a ...

, Bombay from where she did her BA Honors Economics. She was very active in St. Xavier's music group. During the annual college festival (Malhar), she met Ranu Mukherjee, the daughter of Hemant Kumar. Ranu took the initiative of reintroducing Kavita to her father. He was impressed by her grounding in music, so he began using her as a singer during his live performances. In one such performance, playback singer Manna Dey spotted her and employed her to sing advertisement jingles. Through her aunt's strong contacts, she met Jaya Chakravarthy, the mother of actress Hema Malini, who later took the initiative of introducing Kavita to the music director Laxmikant (one of the composer duo Laxmikant–Pyarelal) in late 1976.

Playback singing

She recorded her first song under Vilayat Khan's composition in Kadambari (1976). The song was entitled '

Aayega Aanewala "Aayega Aanewala" ( en, He'll come, who has to come) is one of the most well known songs from Indian cinema. It was prominent in the film Mahal being sung by Lata Mangeshkar. Khemchand Prakash Khemchand Prakash (12 December 1907 – 10 Augus ...

' (a remake of Mahal's (1949) superhit song sung by Lata Mangeshkar) and was picturised on Shabana Azmi. Laxmikant gave her an opportunity to work as a dubbing artist. Kavita impressed Laxmikant with her extremely strong grasp of Hindustani classical music. Initially, she recorded songs and cut demos of songs intended for singers like Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle. In her struggling phase, she received the patronage of music composers Laxmikant—Pyarelal, who backed her so strongly that she was labeled as a singer exclusively working with them. This gave many music directors an excuse to avoid working with her. In 1978, she first sang the Kannada song "Ondanondu kaaladaga" in the film

Ondanondu Kaladalli ''Ondanondu Kaladalli'' () is a 1978 Indian Kannada-language epic film co-written and directed by Girish Karnad with soundtrack by Bhaskar Chandavarkar, starring Shankar Nag and Akshatha Rao in their debut. Through this movie, Kavita Krishnamur ...

(Meaning: ''Once upon a time'') directed by Girish Karnad. The song was penned by the Jnanpit awardee Chandrashekhara Kambara and the music by

Bhaskar Chandavarkar Bhaskar Chandavarkar (16 March 1936 – 26 July 2009) was an Indian sitar player, academic and film and theatre composer who worked with well-known directors of Indian cinema like Mrinal Sen, Girish Karnad, Aparna Sen, K. G. George and Amol P ...

. Being the only song in the entire movie, ''Ondanondu kaladaga'' with its folk touch, became a hit and earned fame for Kavita Krishnamurti. Then she went on to sing many Kannada-language songs. In 1980, she sang "Kaahe Ko Byaahi" in '' Maang Bharo Sajana (1980)'', which featured her singing in her own voice. Unfortunately, the song was dropped from the final cut of the film. In 1985, her career took off with her first major hit, "Tumse Milkar Na Jaane Kyon" from the Hindi film '' Pyaar Jhukta Nahin (1985) - Tumse milkar''. '' Na Jaane kyun.'' Post the success of the song, it opened up opportunities beyond the Laxmikant–Pyarelal camp. However, "Hawa Hawaii" and "Karte Hain Hum Pyaar Mr. India Se", two popular songs from the equally popular movie ''

Mr. India Mr. or Mister India may refer to: Pageants * Rubaru Mister India, a national Indian beauty pageant in India that sends its winners to Mister International, Mister Global, Mister Model International and other international competitions * Mister Indi ...

'' (1986) - Karte Hain Hum Pyaar Mr. India se, proved to be a turning point in her career. (The songs were composed by music composers Laxmikant-Pyarelal, the latter being a duet with

Kishore Kumar Kishore Kumar (born as Abhas Kumar Ganguly (); 4 August 1929 – 13 October 1987) was an Indian playback singer and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest, most influential and dynamic singers in the history of Indian music. He ...

and lip-synced on screen by an actress

Sridevi Shree Amma Yanger Ayyappan (13 August 1963 – 24 February 2018), professionally credited with her stage name Sridevi, was an Indian actress who worked in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, and Kannada language films. Cited as the "First Female ...

.) Her collaboration with Laxmikant-Pyarelal produced several hits. The 1990s thrust Kavita into being known as one of the leading female playback singers. Her performance as a singer in the film '' 1942: A Love Story'', composed by R.D. Burman, won her much popular acclaim. With a string of hits from '' 1942: A Love Story'', ''

Yaraana ''Yaarana'' or ''Yaraana'' may refer to: * ''Yaarana'' (1981 film), a 1981 Indian musical drama film directed by Rakesh Kumar * ''Yaraana'' (1995 film), a 1995 Indian romantic thriller film * ''Yaarana'' (2015 film), a 2015 Indian Punjabi-langu ...

'', '' Agni Sakshi, Bhairavi'', and '' Khamoshi'', Kavita established herself as one of the leading female playback singers alongside

Alka Yagnik Alka, AlkA or ALKA may refer to: People * Alka Ajith (born c. 1997), Indian multilingual playback singer * Alka Amin (active from 2011), Indian television actress * Alka Balram Kshatriya, Indian politician, Member of the Parliament of India repr ...

. She went on to work with several music directors of the 1990s Hindi films, such as Bappi Lahiri, Anand–Milind,

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...

, Rajesh Roshan, Raamlaxman,

Ismail Darbar Ismail Darbar is an Indian film score composer, instrumentalist, violinist and music director. Career Ismail Darbar is from Surat, Gujarat. He worked for several years as a session violinist for leading music directors Laxmikant Pyarelal, Kal ...

Himesh Reshammiya Himesh Reshammiya (born 23 July 1973) is an Indian playback singer, music director, songwriter, film & music producer and actor in Hindi cinema. He started his career as music director in the film '' Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya'' in 1998 and made ...

, Aadesh Shrivastava, Nadeem-Shravan, Jatin–Lalit, Viju Shah and Anu Malik. Her work with

and

remain some of the most critically acclaimed renditions of the last two decades. During her stint as a playback singer, she sang duets with the leading male singers of her time. Early in her career, she sang duets with

Mohammed Rafi Mohammed Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) was an Indian playback singer and musician. He is considered to have been one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. Rafi was notable for his versatility and ...

, and Shailendra Singh. Her most prolific work was with the leading singers of the 1990s: Amit Kumar, Mohammad Aziz, Udit Narayan, Kumar Sanu, and Abhijeet Bhattacharya. She has also sung with younger singers in the 2000s such as Sonu Nigam, Shaan, and

Babul Supriyo Babul Supriyo (born 15 December 1970) is an Indian playback singer, live performer, television host, actor and politician who currently serves as Cabinet Minister of Information Technology and Electronics and Tourism of the Government of Wes ...

. Her female duets mostly have been with

, Anuradha Paudwal and Sadhana Sargam with a few duets also with Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle. During the 90s and early 2000s, Kavita alongside

sang the most for leading ladies. As she actively started exploring fusion music, Kavita traveled around the world, including the US, UK, UAE, Europe, Africa, Australia, East Asia, the Middle East, and South America. She performed in concert halls including

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

in London,

The Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

in Washington, D.C.,

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

, The Lincoln Center in New York City, the Zhongshan Music Hall in Beijing, The Esplanade in Singapore, The Putra Jaya World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur, and Gewandhaus Leipzigm. Although primarily a playback singer, Kavita has sung with orchestras as a soloist; she collaborated with Western artists from jazz, pop and classical fields. She has lent her voice for many albums. As a playback singer, Kavita has performed throughout India. In 2014, she also sang "Koi Chahat Koi Hasrat" for the album ''Women's Day Special: Spreading Melodies Everywhere''. It was composed by Nayab Raja and penned by Dipti Mishra.

In Kannada

Kavita's playback singing career started with Kannada-language films. Her first film song was in the Kannada film ''Ondanondu kaladalli'' (1978) with the same title. She sang many hit songs in Kannada since then. Songs such as "Bareyada mounada Kavithe" ( Sparsha), "Hoove Hoove" ( H2O), "Endo Kanda kanasu" (

Lankesh Patrike ''Lankesh Patrike'' is an Indian vernacular weekly published in Kannada language from Bangalore, Karnataka. The weekly newspaper was started by P. Lankesh in 1980 on the lines of ''Harijan'', a newspaper published by Mahatma Gandhi. The week ...

), "O Malle o dumbi" ('Naga Devate'), "Artha madkolo" ( Shishya), "Kaveri Kaveri" (

Raja Huli ''Raja Huli'' is a 2013 Indian Kannada-language comedy-drama film directed by Guru Deshpande and written by S. R. Prabhakaran. Produced by K. Manju's home production, The film stars Yash and Meghana Raj in the lead roles. The soundtrack and sc ...

), and many more hit songs made her a household name in Karnataka.

Pop and devotional singing

Due to her participation in fusion and pop music, Kavita has lent her voice for several pop and devotional albums. The most prominent ones being: * ''Bhalobasi'' * ''Shiv Baba ko Yaad Kar'' * ''Dujone Dekha Holo'' * ''Together Tagore'' * ''Premer Neshay'' * ''Mohe Raam Dhun Laagi'' * ''Bhajan Stuti'' * ''Aadi Ganesh'' * ''Venkatesha Suprabhatam'' * ''Shiva Shlokas'' * ''Koi Akela Kahan'' * ''Meera Ka Ram'' * ''Mahalakshmi Stotram'' * ''Pop Time'' * ''Sai Ka Vardaan'' * ''Shagufthagi'' * ''Dil Ki Awaaz'' * ''Hasratein'' * ''Athens'' * ''Asmita'' * ''Mahiya''

Television appearances

Kavita Subramaniam made many appearances in various music reality shows as a guest judge because of her popularity as a playback singer. She recently was a judge for '' Bharat Ki Shaan: Singing Star'' (Season 1), which aired on DD National at prime time. She also appeared in Vijay TV

Airtel Super Singer Super Singer is an 2006 Indian Tamil-language reality television singing competition, that is sponsored by Asian Paints for the nine Season. The show is televised in India on Vijay TV, and worldwide through partner broadcasting networks. The s ...

and Star Jalsha Super Singer. She has also sung for serials like Alif Laila DD National, Mahabharat, Ramayan (1986), Shri Krishna, and Ramayan (2008), Kavita Krishnamurthy At Know In 2017 Special Juries and Judge UAE Singers of Student, The Give as Prices 5,000 Dinar In Winner. She also appeared in '' Rising Star Season 2'', which was broadcast on ''

Colors TV Colors TV is an Indian general entertainment broadcast network owned by Viacom18. The network's programming consists of family dramas, comedies, youth-oriented reality shows, shows on crime and television films. History It was launched on 2 ...

'' on 4 March 2018 as a guest.

Personal life

Kavita Krishnamurti married

, Karnataka on 11 November 1999. They have a child called Sai Prashant Krishnamuthy. Subramaniam has four children from his previous marriage. His eldest daughter Gingger Shankar is a singer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist, while his second eldest, Bindu Subramaniam is a law graduate and singer-songwriter. Narayana is a doctor, while the youngest, Ambi Subramaniam, is an accomplished violinist. Kavita and her husband opened a musical institute, the Subramaniam Academy of Performing Arts, in Bengaluru in 2007. In March 2013, she launched her own app which is available for free download in the App Store and the Google Play Store.

Discography

Awards and nominations

* 2015 - Honorary Doctorate from

, Bangalore * 2000 - Accolades for her include the “Best Singer of the Millennium” award at the Stardust Millennium 2000 Awards ;Civilian Awards * 2005 – Padma Shri – India's fourth-highest civilian honors ;

Filmfare Awards The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Hindi-language film industry of India.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were first introduced by th ...

* 2003 – Best Female Playback Singer (shared with Shreya Ghoshal) – " Dola Re Dola" ('' Devdas'') * 1997 – Best Female Playback Singer – "Aaj Main Upar" ('' Khamoshi: The Musical'') * 1996 – Best Female Playback Singer – "Mera Piya Ghar Aaya" (''

'') * 1995 – Best Female Playback Singer – "Pyaar Hua Chupke Se" ('' 1942: A Love Story'') ;State Awards * 2000 - Maharashtra State Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer - for the songs in the movie ''Sawai Hawaldar''. ; Star Screen Awards * 1997 – Best Female Playback Singer – "Aaj Main Upar" ('' Khamoshi: The Musical'') * 2000 – Best Female Playback Singer – "Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam" (''

Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam ''Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam'' () is a 1999 Indian Hindi-language romantic musical film directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. It was released internationally as ''Straight From the Heart''. The film stars Aishwarya Rai, Salman Khan and Ajay Devgn. Ba ...

'') ; Zee Cine Awards * 2003 – Best Female Playback Singer (shared with Shreya Ghoshal) – "Dola Re" ('' Devdas'') * 2000 – Best Female Playback Singer – "

Nimbooda "Nimbooda" (English language, English: "Lime") is a traditional folk tune from Rajasthan. It was first popularized by Gazi Khan Barna of the Manganiar community in Rajasthan. The song discusses fetching limes from the fields as a double entendre. ...

" (''

'') ; IIFA Awards * 2001 - Best Female Playback Singer - "Aey Dil laya Hai Bahar" (Kya Kehna) * 2003 – Best Female Playback Singer (shared with Shreya Ghoshal) – " Dola Re Dola" ('' Devdas'') ;Other Awards * Prafulla Kar Samman (2018) Odia Film Industry. * ''‘Phonomenal That's Me’'' award for her contribution to the Kannada film industry (2014) *

Swaralaya Yesudas Award Swaralaya Kairali Yesudas Award (or usually referred to as Yesudas Award) is an award for music artists in recognition to their outstanding performance. The award is instituted jointly by ''Swaralaya'', an organization that promotes music and Kair ...

(2008) by Swaralaya, for exceptional contribution to Indian music. * Kishore Kumar Journalists'/Critics' Award in Calcutta (2002) * Lion's / Club Bollywood Award, held in New York (2000) At The Same year (2002) * Shri Ravindra Jain Sangeet Samman (2012) * Lata Mangeshkar Award from the Govt. of Madhya Pradesh (2005)

References

External links

*
L. Subramaniam and Kavita S.

Artist: Kavita Krishnamurthy on Google Music

{{DEFAULTSORT:Krishnamurti, Kavita Living people Assamese playback singers Bollywood playback singers Kannada playback singers Tamil playback singers Telugu playback singers Indian women playback singers Tamil singers Bengali singers Nepali-language singers from India Marathi playback singers Marathi-language singers Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts People from New Delhi Year of birth missing (living people) Indian folk-pop singers Women musicians from Delhi Singers from Delhi Filmfare Awards winners Screen Awards winners Zee Cine Awards winners International Indian Film Academy Awards winners 20th-century Indian women singers 20th-century Indian singers 21st-century Indian women singers 21st-century Indian singers