# Lata Mangeshkar

Lata Mangeshkar (born September 28, 1929), popularly called Lataji, was an Indian singer and an occasional music-composer. In her singing career of over seven decades she has been one of the best-known and most admired playback singers in India. She was also known by the epithet "Melody queen". Her songs are recorded in over thirty-six regional Indian languages and foreign languages with maximum recordings in more than 1,000 Hindi films and also songs in her mother tongue Marathi. She has won innumerable awards for film songs and was also the recipient of the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award of India. She was also recipient of the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award. She is the world's most prolific recording artist. She was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records from 1974 to 1991 for recording over 25,000 solo, duet, and chorus-backed songs in 20 Indian languages between 1948 and 1974.

## Quotes

* It was not really the external influences that made me a singer. Music was within me. I was full of it
** Quotations by 60 Greatest Indians. Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology.
* People should be blessed in life with friends who are both "Mirrors & Shadows"! Mirrors don't lie & shadows never leave.
** Quotes. The Sunday Indian. Retrieved on 29 November 2013.
* Mohd Rafi saab and I fought over royalty rights. At a meeting attended by prominent singers and musicians, he stood up and said, Main aaj se Lata ke saath nahin gaoonga. I retorted, Rafi saab, 'ek minute. Aap nahin gaayenge mere saath yeh galat baat hai. Main aapke saath nahin gaoongee'. I stormed out and called all my composers there and then and informed them to rope in another singer if it was a duet with Rafi saab.
** "Lata Mangeshkar had an affair with Bhupen, says Hazarika's estranged wife". Hindustan Times. 7 November 2012. Retrieved on 29 November 2013.
* When I speak, my Urdu isn’t very good but when I sing I make sure there are no flaws in my diction.
* I first listen to someone who speaks the language and who reads the lyrics to me. I pay great attention to pronunciation. Once I hear the words spoken, I write the song lines phonetically in Hindi and then sing. By the grace of god, my songs in other languages – including Bengali – have been appreciated. People say they are good and the words have been correctly pronounced.
** Above two quotes about her singing in Urdu and other languages in Lata Mangeshkar has to thank Dilip Kumar for her Urdu skills!. India Today. Retrieved on 29 Npvember 2013.
* If he says that I am the voice of the century, then I would say that he is the writer of the century.
** On Gulzar on his 87th birthday

## About Lata Mangeshkar

* In fact, veteran politician LK Advani said, “Lata ji has been my all time favourite among popular singers and I feel fortunate to have shared a long association with her. I recall the time when she recorded a beautiful Shri Ram Bhajan and sent it to me when I was about to undertake my Ram Rath Yatra from Somnath to Ayodhya. That memorable song–“Ram Naam Mein Jaadu Aisa, Ram Naam Man Bhaaye, Man Ki Ayodhya tab tak sooni, jab tak Ram Na aaye…”became the signature tune of my Yatra.”.”
** L.K. Advani. Lata Mangeshkar, the Goddess of Singing who never compromised with her core values
* “The whole of India sings in the voice of Maharashtra, and that voice is of Lata Mangeshkar,” said veteran journalist P. K. Atre once, when asked about the musical contributions of the Mangeshkar family to the nation.
** PK Atre.
* I consider it my honour that I have always received immense affection from Lata Didi. My interactions with her will remain unforgettable. I grieve with my fellow Indians on the passing away of Lata Didi. Spoke to her family and expressed condolences. Om Shanti.
** Narendra Modi,
* Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while paying his tributes to the legendary singer, said, “I am anguished beyond words. The kind and caring Lata Didi has left us. She leaves a void in our nation that cannot be filled. The coming generations will remember her as a stalwart of Indian culture, whose melodious voice had an unparalleled ability to mesmerise people.”
* “I consider it my honour that I have always received immense affection from Lata Didi. My interactions with her will remain unforgettable. I grieve with my fellow Indians on the passing away of Lata Didi. Spoke to her family and expressed condolences. Om Shanti,” he added.
** Narendra Modi
* Lata was beyond words. She was a miracle that will never happen never again.
** Gulzar on the death of Lata
* India's greatest playback singer Lata Mangeshkar who sang for him [Naushad] in the film.
** Comment made after she sang for the film Baiju Bawra with Naushad as music director The Literary Works of Ranganathan Magadi. Ranganathan Magadi. pp. 657–. ISBN 978-1-4116-7004-4.
* Lata Mangeshkar was known to have been a sympathiser of the Hindutva ideology. In fact, she was a sympathiser of the pro-Hindu Mahasabha, which is a hardcore rightist organisation. Despite that she was given various awards by governments of varying political hues only and only for her mind-boggling contribution to film music.
** "Strip Lata Mangeshkar of Padma, Bharat Ratna awards, says Congress leader Janardhan Chandurkar". DNA India. Retrieved on 29 November 2013.
* I went to the temple, not to pay homage to Lord Mangesh, but on a sort of pilgrimage to see the place where you were born.
** Kushwant Singh in Khushwant Singh (1981). Khushwant Singh's editor's page. IBH Pub. Co..