Usha Uthup Iyer (born 7 November 1947) is an

Indian pop Indian pop music, also known as Indi-pop, refers to pop music produced in India that is independent from filmi soundtracks for Indian cinema, such as the music of Bollywood, which tends to be more popular. Indian pop is closely linked to Bolly ...

filmi Filmi ("of films") music soundtracks are music produced for India's mainstream motion picture industry and written and performed for Indian cinema. In cinema, music directors make up the main body of composers; the songs are performed by playba ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

, and playback singer who sang songs in the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. "Darling", which she recorded with

Rekha Bhardwaj Rekha Bhardwaj (born 24 January 1964) is an Indian singer and live performer. She has received two Filmfare and one National Awards. In addition to Hindi, she has also sung in Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi and Malayalam languages. Personal l ...

for the film ''

7 Khoon Maaf ''7 Khoon Maaf'' (; read as "''Saat Khoon Maaf''"), released internationally as ''Seven Sins Forgiven'', is a 2011 Indian Hindi-language black comedy film directed, co-written and co-produced by Vishal Bhardwaj. The film stars Priyanka Chopra ...

'', won the

Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer The Filmfare Best Female Playback Award is given by ''Filmfare'' as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to recognise a female playback singer who has delivered an outstanding performance in a film song. Although the award cere ...

in 2012. She also sang the title song for the show ''

Sarabhai vs Sarabhai ''Sarabhai vs Sarabhai'' is an Indian sitcom that ran on STAR One from 1 November 2004 to 16 April 2006 and on Hotstar from 15 May 2017 to 17 July 2017 for two seasons. The show was created by Jamnadas Majethia and Aatish Kapadia and directed ...

'' in its first season.

Personal life

Usha was born into a

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, nativ ...

Iyer Iyers (also spelt as Ayyar, Aiyar, Ayer, or Aiyer) are an ethnoreligious community of Tamil-speaking Hindu Brahmins. Most Iyers are followers of the ''Advaita'' philosophy propounded by Adi Shankara and adhere to the Smarta tradition. This is ...

family in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

in 1947. Her father was Vaidyanath Someshwar Sami Iyer who hailed from

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

, in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

. She studied at St. Agnes High School,

Byculla Byculla (ISO: Bhāykhaḷā; pronunciation: ʱaːjkʰəɭaː is an area of South Mumbai. Location Byculla is neighboured by Nagpada and Mumbai Central and Mahalaxmi on the west; Agripada, Jacob Circle on the north-west: Chinchpokli to the no ...

. When she was in school she was thrown out of music class because she didn't fit in with a voice like hers. But her music teacher recognised that she had some music in her and would give her clappers or triangles to play. Even though she was not formally trained in music, she grew up in an atmosphere of music. Her parents used to listen to a wide range from Western classical to Hindustani and Carnatic including

Kishori Amonkar Kishori Amonkar (10 April 1932 – 3 April 2017) was a leading Indian classical vocalist, belonging to the Jaipur ''gharana'', or a community of musicians sharing a distinctive musical style. She was a performer of the classical genre ' ...

and

Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan (2 April 1902 – 23 April 1968) was an Indian Hindustani classical vocalist, from the Patiala gharana.Radio Ceylon. Her next door neighbour was S.M.A. Pathan, who was then the deputy commissioner of police. His daughter, Jamila, influenced Usha to learn

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

and take up Indian classical music. This fusion approach helped her to pioneer her unique brand of Indian pop in the 1970s. She is married to Jani Chacko Uthup who is from Manarcaud Painumkal family of

Kottayam Kottayam () is a municipal town in the Indian state of Kerala. Flanked by the Western Ghats on the east and the Vembanad Lake and paddy fields of Kuttanad on the west. It is the district headquarters of Kottayam district, located in south- ...

, and was formerly married to the late Ramu. They have a daughter Anjali and a son Sunny, named after the song, " Sunny". She is presently a resident of

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

, West Bengal.

Career

Her first public singing occurred when she was nine. Her sisters, who were already exploring a career in music, introduced her to

Ameen Sayani Ameen Sayani is a popular former radio announcer from India. He achieved fame and popularity all across the Indian Subcontinent when he presented his '' Binaca Geetmala'' program of hits over the airwaves of Radio Ceylon. He is one of the most im ...

, then the most popular radio announcer in India. Ameen Sayani gave her an opportunity to sing in the Ovaltine Music Hour of Radio Ceylon. She sang a number called "Mockingbird Hill". After that, several appearances followed through her teenage years.

Singing career

Usha Uthup started her music career in Chennai in 1969, singing in a small nightclub called Nine Gems in the basement of the erstwhile

Safire Theatre complex The Safire Theatre complex was India's first largest multi-theatre complex located in the southern city of Chennai that functioned from 1964 to 1994. The theatre complex was located on Mount Road (now Anna Salai) and consisted of three screeni ...

on Mount Road, wearing a saree and leg callipers. Her performance was so well received that the owner of the nightclub asked her to stay on for a week. After her first night club gig, she began singing in Calcutta at night clubs such as "Trincas". She met her future husband Uthup in Trincas. At about the same time, she also sang at "Talk of the Town", now known as "Not Just Jazz by the Bay" in Bombay (now Mumbai). After Trincas, her next engagement took her to Delhi where she sang at the Oberoi hotels. By happenstance, a film crew belonging to Navketan unit and

Dev Anand Dharamdev Pishorimal Anand (26 September 1923 – 3 December 2011), better known as Dev Anand, was an Indian actor, writer, director and producer known for his work in Hindi cinema, through a career that spanned over six decades. He was ...

visited the nightclub and they offered her a chance to sing movie playback. As a result, she started her Bollywood career with Ivory-Merchant's Bombay Talkies (1970) in which she sang an English number under Shanker-Jaikishan and then '' Hare Rama Hare Krishna''. Originally, she was supposed to sing Dum Maro Dum along with Asha Bhosle for Hare Rama Hare Krishna. However, as a result of internal politicking on the part of other singers, she lost that chance but ended up singing an English verse. In 1968, she recorded covers of two pop songs in English, "

Jambalaya Jambalaya ( , ) is an American Creole and Cajun rice dish of French (especially Provençal cuisine), African, and Spanish influence, consisting mainly of meat and vegetables mixed with rice. Ingredients Traditionally, the meat includes sa ...

" and

The Kingston Trio The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to the late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, ...

's "Greenback Dollar", on an EP, ''Love Story'', and "Scotch and Soda", another Kingston Trio song, which sold very well in the Indian market. She also spent some time in London during this early period. She was a frequent visitor to

Vernon Corea Vernon Corea (11 September 1927 – 23 September 2002) was a pioneer radio broadcaster with 45 years of public service broadcasting both in Sri Lanka and the UK. He joined Radio Ceylon, South Asia's oldest radio station, in 1956 and later the Sr ...

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

office at the Langham in London and was interviewed on '' London Sounds Eastern'' on BBC Radio London. Usha visited Nairobi as part of an Indian festival. She was so popular that she was invited to stay on. Singing and quite often nationalistic songs in Swahili made her extremely popular and the then President Jomo Kenyatta made her an Honorary Citizen of Kenya. She sang the famous song "Malaika" ('Angel') with Fadhili Williams who was the original singer. She produced a record "Live in Nairobi" with a local band Fellini Five. Uthup sang several songs in the 1970s and 1980s for music directors

R. D. Burman Rahul Dev Burman (27 June 1939 – 4 January 1994) was an Indian music director who is considered one of the most influential composers of India. From the 1960s to the 1990s, Burman composed musical scores for 331 films. Burman did major work w ...

and

Bappi Lahiri Bappi Aparesh Lahiri (born Alokesh Aparesh Lahiri; 27 November 1952 – 15 February 2022), also known as Bappi Da was an Indian singer, composer and record producer. He popularised the use of synthesised disco music in Indian music industry and ...

. She also reprised some of R. D. Burman songs that were sung by others such as "Mehbooba Mehbooba" and "Dum Maro Dum" and popularised them to a distinct end. Uthup also sang for a two-volume collection of children's rhymes "Karadi Rhymes", which are "Indian Rhymes for Indian Kids", brought out by Karadi Tales
www.karaditales.com
. The rhymes reflect the Indian ethos through the Sa-re-ga-ma, mangoes, Indian rivers, the train experiences, Indian festivals, indigenous trees, Cricket, Indian foods like bhelpuri and sambhar, Indian attire like the dhoti, sari, bindi and bangles and even some folk tales. With each rhyme set to an Indian raga, and sung in her characteristic voice with a feisty tempo, Usha creates the atmosphere for children and, surprisingly, even adults to sing along and dance to the toe-tapping beats. She appeared as a judge on a singing reality show '' Bharat Ki Shaan: Singing Star'' – Season 2 (2012), aired on

DD National DD National (formerly DD1) is a state-owned public entertainment television channel in India. It is the flagship channel of Doordarshan, India's public service broadcaster, and the oldest and most widely available terrestrial television chann ...

channel, along with

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, ...

. She is the judge in the Season 3 of the show as well. She also appeared as a chief guest for Marathi singing reality show. She entertained the audience with Marathi songs. She is a stage performer and gave performances all over the world and is known for her lively stage presence. She has been felicitated with several awards over the years, some of which include Rajiv Gandhi Purashkar for National Integration for quality music, Mahila Shiromani Purashkar for international peace, and Channel award for outstanding achievement. She appeared on the Kapil Sharma Show on 26 May 2019 She recorded her first album with Luis Banks for which she was paid Rs. 3500. Since then, she has recorded numerous albums. Usha's Hindi version of Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough", titled "Chhupke Kaon Aya", can be found on the album ''Tom Middleton – The Trip'' (2004). A cover of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" is on another Tom Middleton album, ''Cosmosonica – Tom Middleton Presents Crazy Covers Vol. 1'' (2005). She recorded a song called "Rhythm and Blues" with the Indian rock band

Parikrama Parikrama or Pradakshina is clockwise circumambulation of sacred entities, and the path along which this is performed, as practiced in the Indian religions, Indic religions - Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism. In Buddhism, it refers only ...

which appeared on Channel V on 23 April 2007. Uthup received a lot of recognition for having a unique voice that ranges between contralto and alto

Acting career

Uthup is also an actress. In 2006, she acted in the

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 2 ...

movie '' Pothan Vava'' as Kurisuveettil Mariamma. She made a cameo appearance in the movie ''Bombay To Goa''. In 2007, she appeared in ''Bow Barracks Forever'' directed by Anjun Dutt as herself. Again in 2007, she appeared in ''Hattrick'' music video as herself. She appeared in disguise on ''Indian Idol'' 1 and 2. She was one of the co-judges of the 2007 and 2008 and ''Idea Star Singer'' Season V (2010). She has a minor role in the 2010 Tamil movie ''

Manmadan Ambu ''Manmadan Ambu'' () is a 2010 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film directed by K. S. Ravikumar. Written by Kamal Haasan, it stars himself alongside Trisha, Sangeetha and R. Madhavan, while featuring Oviya, Ramesh Aravind, Usha Uthup, M ...

''. She also acted in Vishal Bhardwaj's ''

'' as a maid. She has also sung a song in the film which released on 18 February 2011. In 2012, she has starred in a Kannada film ''

Parie ''Parie'' is a 2012 Kannada-language romance film starring Rakesh Adiga and Nivedhitha. The film is directed by Sudhir Attavar. Veer Samarth is the music director of the film. In total, there are seven producers for this movie which makes it spe ...

''. In 2019, she appeared in the documentary ''If Not for You'' for which, she recorded a cover of "

Blowin' in the Wind "Blowin' in the Wind" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1962. It was released as a single and included on his album '' The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' in 1963. It has been described as a protest song and poses a series of rhetorical questions abou ...

" by legendary singer-songwriter

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

Discography

In addition, she has also sung playback for the Bollywood movies '' Revolver Rani'' (2014), ''

Dhol Dhol (IPA: ) can refer to any one of a number of similar types of double-headed drum widely used, with regional variations, throughout the Indian subcontinent. Its range of distribution in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan primarily includes nort ...

'' (2007), June R (2005), '' Joggers' Park'' (2003), Jajantaram Mamantaram (2003), '' Ek Tha Raja'' (1996),

Dushman Devta ''Dushman Devta '' is a 1991 Bollywood action drama film directed by Anil Ganguly, starring Dharmendra, Dimple Kapadia, Aditya Pancholi, Sonam in lead role. The music director of the movie was Bappi Lahiri. Plot A small town in rural India is ...

(1991), '' Bhavani Junction'' (1985), '' Hum Paanch'' (1980), and ''

Purab Aur Paschim ''Purab Aur Pachhim'' () is a 1970 Indian Hindi-language drama film. The movie was produced and directed by Manoj Kumar, and it stars Manoj Kumar, Saira Banu, Ashok Kumar, Pran and Prem Chopra in the lead roles. The music is by Kalyanji Anandji. ...

'' (1970) among others. She has also sung two English songs "We have got" and "How can I tell you" in the 1977 Kannada film ''Sangharsha''.

Filmography

Television

Awards and nominations

Civilian awards

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

- 2011 – Fourth Highest Civilian Award presented by

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

Film awards

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Uthup, Usha 1947 births Living people Singers from Kolkata Bengali-language singers Bollywood playback singers English-language singers from India Gujarati-language singers Hindi-language singers Indian women playback singers Tamil playback singers Marathi-language singers Konkani-language singers Nepali-language singers from India Singers from Mumbai Russian-language singers Tamil-language singers Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Kannada playback singers Indian women pop singers 21st-century Indian singers Indian Tamil people Indian jazz singers Indian women jazz singers 20th-century Indian singers 20th-century Indian women singers 21st-century Indian women singers Women musicians from Maharashtra Actresses in Hindi cinema Actresses in Malayalam cinema Actresses in Tamil cinema Actresses in Kannada cinema Filmfare Awards winners