Photo: Bollywood Hungama / CC BY 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Lata Mangeshkar is, to my ear, the rare artist whose voice became a piece of national infrastructure. For most of a century, Indian cinema's heroines kept changing but the voice singing for them did not — that crystalline upper register threaded through thousands of films and several generations of memory. I am struck by how completely she dissolved her own image into the work: a playback singer by definition stays off-screen, yet she ended up more famous than almost anyone she sang for. The Bharat Ratna and the Legion of Honour merely formalized what audiences already knew. Few musicians anywhere have meant this much to this many.
Overview
Lata Dinanath Mangeshkar (Hindi pronunciation: [ləˈt̪aː məŋˈɡeːʃkəɾ] ; born Hemalata Dinanath Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Lata Mangeshkar
- Name (Japanese)
- ラタ・マンゲシュカル
- Reading
- らた・まんげしゅかる
- Born
- September 28, 1929 – February 6, 2022
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Libra / Snake
- Origin
- Indore, Indore district, India
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- singer / film actor / film score composer / film producer / playback singer
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Private
Awards & achievements
- 2001 Bharat Ratna
- 1999 Padma Vibhushan
- 1969 Padma Bhushan
- 2007 Officer of the Legion of Honour
- 1997 Maharashtra Bhushan Award
- 1989 Dadasaheb Phalke Award
- 1972 National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer
- 1974 National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Singer — see all → · Film actor — see all → · More people from India →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-11
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.