Lata Mangeshkar Death: Rare and Unseen pics of India's Melody Queen

Legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar passed away today at the age of 92. The veteran singer was admitted to a city hospital in early January this year after she tested positive for Covid-19 and was also diagnosed with pneumonia.

She was widely considered the greatest and most influential singers in India.[7][8] Her contribution to Indian music industry in a career spanning seven decades gained her honorific titles such as the Nightingale of India and Queen of Melody.

Lata had recorded songs in over thirty-six Indian languages and few foreign languages, though primarily in Hindi and Marathi.[9] She received several accolades and honors throughout her career.

In 1987 The Dadasaheb Phalke Award was bestowed on her by the Government of India. In 2001, in recognition of her contributions to the nation, she was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour and is only the second female singer, after M. S. Subbulakshmi, to receive this honour.

She was the recipient of three National Film Awards, 15 Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards, four Filmfare Best Female Playback Awards, two Filmfare Special Awards, Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award and many more. In 1974, she became the first Indian to perform at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

She had four siblings: Meena Khadikar, Asha Bhosle, Usha Mangeshkar and Hridaynath Mangeshkar – of whom she was the eldest.

Lata Mangeshkar was born in 1929, the eldest daughter of Deenanath Mangeshkar, a Marathi and Konkani musician and his wife Shevant.

Her father, 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, who had died, was Shevanti's older sister.

Lata received her first music 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 her first day of school,she left school because they would not allow her to bring her sister Asha with her, as she would often bring her younger sister with her.

Lata sang the song "Naachu Yaa Gade, Khelu Saari Mani Haus Bhaari", which was composed by Sadashivrao Nevrekar for Vasant Joglekar's Marathi movie Kiti Hasaal (1942), but the song was dropped from the final cut. Vinayak gave her a small role in Navyug Chitrapat's Marathi movie Pahili Mangalaa-gaur (1942), in which she sang "Natali Chaitraachi Navalaai" which was composed by Dada Chandekar.Her first Hindi song was "Mata Ek Sapoot Ki Duniya Badal De Tu" for the Marathi film Gajaabhaau (1943)

Lata moved to Mumbai in 1945 when Master Vinayak's company moved its headquarters there. She started taking lessons in Hindustani classical music from Ustad Aman Ali Khan of Bhindibazaar Gharana.

Initially, Lata is said to have imitated the acclaimed singer Noor Jehan, but she later developed her own style of singing.