Lata Mangeshkar Queen Of Singing (Saraswati Maa)

Lata Mangeshkar 

Born	Hema Hardikar Mangeshkar 28 September 1929 {age 88}
Indore, Indore State, Central India Agency, British India

{present-day Madhya Pradesh, India}

Nationality	

Indian

Other names

Nightingale of India , Queen of Melody , Voice of the Nation, Voice of the Millennium

Occupation

Playback singer, Music composer, Producer

Years active

1942–present

Parent{s}

Deenanath Mangeshkar {father}

Shevanti Mangeshkar {mother}

Relatives

Asha Bhosle {Sister}

Usha Mangeshkar {Sister}

Meena Mangeshkar {Sister}

Hridaynath Mangeshkar {Brother}

Awards

3 National Film Awards

12 Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards

4 Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer

2 Filmfare Special Awards

1 Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award

Honours

Padma Bhushan {1969}

Dadasaheb Phalke Award {1989}

Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhawana Award {1999}

Padma Vibhushan {1999}

Bharat Ratna {2001}

Legion of Honor {2007}

EARLY LIFE

Lata Mangeshkar was born in a Marathi-speaking Gomantak Maratha family to a Maharashtrian father and a Gujarati mother in the princely state of Indore, part of the Central India Agency {now part of Madhya Pradesh}. Her father, Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar, was a classical singer and theatre actor. Her mother Shevanti {later renamed Shudhamati}, a Gujarati woman from Thalner, Bombay Presidency {now in northwest Maharashtra}, was Deenanath's second wife; his first wife Narmada was Shevanti's older sister, but she died early. Lata's maternal grandfather was a Gujarati businessman Sheth Haridas Ramdas Lad, the most prosperous businessman and landlord of Thalner, and Lata learnt Gujarati folk songs such as garbas of Pavagadh from her maternal grandmother. The family's last name used to be Hardikar; Deenanath changed it to Mangeshkar in order to identify his family with his native town, Mangeshi in Goa. Lata was named "Hema" at her birth. Her parents later renamed her Lata after a female character, Latika, in one of her father's plays, BhaawBandhan. Lata is the eldest child of her parents. Meena, Asha, Usha and Hridaynath are her siblings in sequence.

Mangeshkar took her first lesson from her father. At the age of five, she started to work as an actress in her father's musical plays {Sangeet Natak in Marathi}. On the first day in school, she started teaching songs to other children. When the teacher stopped her, she was so angry that she stopped going to the school. Other sources cite that she left school because they would not allow her to bring Asha with her, as she would often bring her younger sister with her.

Singing career

Early career in the 1940s

In 1942, when Mangeshkar was 13, her father died of heart disease. Master Vinayak {Vinayak Damodar Karnataki}, the owner of Navyug Chitrapat movie company and a close friend of the Mangeshkar family, took care of them. He helped Lata get started in a career as a singer and actress.