MUMBAI: Born as Mukesh Chand Mathur, the popular singer was born in Delhi on July 22, 1923. He began his career as an actor, but soon moved on to his true calling – singing – in the late 1940s.
Mukesh, the legendary playback singer of India, was one of the five iconic singers of Bollywood alongside Mohammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Manna Dey and Hemant Kumar.
Apart from playback singing for Bollywood movies, Mukesh also released Bhajans, Ghazals, and Classical Music. The singer won four Filmfare Awards and a National Award for his songs.
Mukesh’s hit songs from Hindi movies continue to be popular favourites. He sang around 1,300 songs, the most popular being “Kabhi Kabhie Mere Dil Mein,” “Sabse Bada Naadan,” “Jai Bolo Beimaan Ki” and “Sab Kuch Seekha Humne.”
Bollywood veteran star Raj Kapoor always loved his songs and used to personally ask music directors to let Mukesh sing his songs as their voices sounded similar. It is said that when Kapoor heard about Mukesh’s death, he burst into tears and said, “I have lost my voice.”
The legendary singer learnt to sing by listening to the singing master of his elder sister from an adjacent room. During his early career, he was influenced by singer KL Saigal.
He died on 27 August 1976, on the eve of a concert, leaving Indians with melodic memories.
Google India’s Doodle commemorates singer Mukesh’s 93rd birthday.
Mukesh, the legendary playback singer, is being celebrated by Google India today with a doodle to mark his 93rd birth anniversary.
The Doodle is just for India.
