Kumar Sanu

One of the most successful and honored playback singers in the history of Bollywood, Indian vocalist Kumar Sanu was born Kedarnath Bhattacharya on October 20, 1957 in Calcutta. The son of a songwriter and singer, he began his film singing career in the mid-1980s. In a few years he had been introduced to some of the biggest names in the business and in 1990 he was tapped by the influential duo Nadeem-Shravan to sing the majority of the songs for the film Aahiqui. Kumar Sanu would capture the Best Male Playback singer at that year’s Filmfare Awards for “Ab Tere Bin”, beginning a streak that saw him winning that award five years in a row. In 1991 and 1992 he captured the award again with songs written by Nadeem-Shravan, and they would remain his most regular collaborators for the next three decades. He also enjoyed successful collaborations with other admired composers and lyricists including Anu Malik, Jatin Lalit, and Rajesh Roshan. He remained one of the most popular singers well into the 21st century capturing innumerable industry accolades likes Artist of the Decade at the 2003 Bollywood music Awards. By 2009 he was such a cultural force that he was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri, one of the highest civilian honors in India, by his government. He scored chart hits as late as 2021 “Sambhala Hai Maine”, which had been used in the 2018 film Naaraaz, hit the Indian charts.

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