K. S. Chithra
The legendary six times National award winning singer has made a huge mark in the Indian film music playback industry. K. S. Chithra, a Malayalee, has lent her voice to Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Oriya, Hindi, Assamese and Bengali films. Born into a family of musicians, Chithra’s talent was recognized and nurtured from an early age by her father; her first guru. She received extensive training in Carnatic music. Chitra was introduced to Malayalam playback singing by M. G. Radhakrishnan in 1979 and went on to become a regular singer for many legendary Malayalam musicians including Raveendran and the likes. Under the guidance of Illayaraja, she made her debut in the Tamil film industry with the movie Neethana Antha kuil. Chithra has recorded more than 25 thousands of film and non-film songs till date. During her illustrious career which is still continuing, numerous recognitions have come her way including six National Awards for best female playback singer. She is just behind K.J. Yesudas who has won 7 national awards as a singer. She’s won 15 Kerala State Film Awards, 7 Andhra Pradesh State Film Awards, 3 Karnataka State Film Awards and 4 Tamil Nadu State Film Awards. In 2005, she received the Padma Shri Award.
She has recorded many memorable Hindi songs too for various music directors of Bollywood namely Anand-Milind, Anu Malik, Rajesh Roshan, Viju Shah and many others. She also recorded the Hindi versions of her own Tamil songs sung for A.R.Rahman. Her knowledge of South Indian languages and Hindi enables her to render songs with originality and perfection. She is an inspiration for many upcoming female playback singers. She has sung some wonderfully melodious songs most of them with classical overtures. Known as the Nightingale of South India, her voice has a touch of vibrance and youthfulness.
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