10 Lesser known facts about legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar

The legendary Singer Lata Mangeshkwar died today at the age of 92  in Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital due to multiple organ failure after contracting COVID . Let us look at some of the lesser known facts about her :

Lata Mangeshkar was born in 1929, the eldest daughter of Deenanath Mangeshkar, a Marathi and Konkani musician and his wife Shevanti . She belonged to family of performers . Her father, Deenanath Mangeshkar, was a classical singer and theatre actor.

Lata Mangeshkar was name Hema at the time of birth . Her parents later renamed her Lata after a female character, Latika, in one of her father’s plays, भाव बंधन.

Lata was the eldest child of the family. Meena, Asha, Usha, and Hridaynath, in birth order, are her siblings; all are accomplished singers and musicians.

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.

Her first song “Naachu Yaa Gade, Khelu Saari Mani Haus Bhaari” which was composed by Sadashivrao Nevrekar for Vasant Joglekar’s Marathi movie Kiti Hasaal (1942) was removed from final cut .

Her first Hindi song was “Mata Ek Sapoot Ki Duniya Badal De Tu” for the Marathi film Gajaabhaau (1943)

She received Padma Bhusan award in the year 1969 , Dada Saheb Phalke award in the year 1989, Padma Vibhusan award in the year 1999 ,Bharat Ratna in the year 2001 , “One Time Award for Lifetime Achievement” honour to commemorate the 60th anniversary of India’s independence in 2008 . She has also received various film fare awards.

She has recorded songs in as many as 36 languages including Hindi, Marathi, Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Tamil, Kannada, etc.

Her Patriotic song Ae Mere Watan ke logon moved Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to tears in January 27, 1963 . The song was dedicated to soldiers who died in 1962 war .