Kavita Krishnamurthy

At 66 years old, Kavita Krishnamurthy has this physical status:

Kavita Krishnamurthy is an Indian film playback singer who has sung songs in Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, English, Urdu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Gujarati, Nepali, Bengali,Assamese, Konkani and Odiya Etc.

Trained in classical music, Kavita Krishnamurthy has recorded more than 25,000 songs in 16 languages in a career span of 30 years.

Working with almost all the music composers including Laxmikant–Pyarelal, Naushad, S H Bihari, Kaifi Azmi, Anjan, O P Nayyar, Khayyam, Hemant Kumar, Ravinder Jain, Bappi Lahiri, Sameer, Anand Bakshi, Javid Akthar, Anu Malik, R. D. Burman, Himesh Reshammiya, Hamsalekha, Zubeen Garg and A. R. Rahman.

She is also the recipient of four Filmfare Best Female Playback Singer Awards, including three consecutive awards in the period 1994–1996, and the Padmashri which she received in 2005.

In 1999, she married violinist L. Subramaniam and residing in Bengaluru. Kavita was born Sharada in a Tamil Iyer family in New Delhi, India to T.S. Krishnamurthy, an employee of the Education Ministry.

She began her music training at the insistence of her aunt, Protimma Bhattacharya who enrolled her with Suruma Basu, who taught her Rabindra Sangeet.

She began her formal training in Hindustani classical music under Balram Puri, a classical singer.

At the young age of eight, Kavita won a gold medal at a music competition.

She won many medals participating in the Inter-Ministry Classical Competition in New Delhi in the mid 1960s.

Early life

Born as Sharada into a Tamil Iyer family in New Delhi to T.S. Krishnamurthy, an employee of the Education Ministry. She began her musical training at the insistence of her aunt, Protimma Bhattacharya who enrolled her to train under Suruma Basu, where she was taught Rabindra Sangeet. She began her formal training in Hindustani classical music under the guidance of Balram Puri, a classical singer. At the young age of eight, Kavita won a gold medal at a music competition. She won several medals participating in the Inter-Ministry Classical Competition in New Delhi in the mid-1960s.

Personal life

Kavita Krishnamurti married L. Subramaniam in Bengaluru, Karnataka on 11 November 1999. They have a child called Sai Prashant Krishnamuthy.

Subramaniam has four children from his previous marriage. His eldest daughter Gingger Shankar is a singer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist, while his second eldest, Bindu Subramaniam is a law graduate and singer-songwriter. Narayana is a doctor, while the youngest, Ambi Subramaniam, is an accomplished violinist.

Kavita and her husband opened a musical institute, the Subramaniam Academy of Performing Arts, in Bengaluru in 2007. In March 2013, she launched her own app which is available for free download in the App Store and the Google Play Store.

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Career

She had the opportunity to record a song in the Bengali film Shriman Prithviraj in 1971 with Lata Mangeshkar as co-singer under the direction of music composer and singer Hemant Kumar. Although Sharada aspired to work in Indian Foreign Services, she took her first move as a playback singer in Mumbai when she was 14 years old.

She is an alumnus of St. Xavier's College, Bombay, from which she obtained her BA Honors Economics degree. She was very active in St. Xavier's music group. She met Ranu Mukherjee, Hemant Kumar's daughter, at the annual college festival in Malhar. Ranu took the initiative of reintroducing Kavita to her father. He was captivated by her music's grounding, and he began to use her as a singer in his live performances. Manna Dey, a playback singer, was discovered by her and used her to perform advertisement jingles. She met Jaya Chakravarthy, the mother of actress Hema Malini, who later took the initiative of introducing Kavita to the music director Laxmikant (one of the composer duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal) in late 1976 through her aunt's close contacts.

In Kadambari (1976), she recorded her first song under Vilayat Khan's composition. The song was titled 'Aayega Aanewala' (a recreation of Mahal's (1949) superhit song performed by Lata Mangeshkar) and was filmed on Shabana Azmi. Laxmikant gave her the opportunity to work as a dubbing artist. Kavita impressed Laxmikant with her deep knowledge of Hindustani classical music. Initially, she recorded songs and cut demos of songs meant for singers like Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle. She earned the Laxmikant—Pyarelal patronage, who backed her so strongly that she was identified solely working with them. Many music producers were able to avoid working with her because of this.

In 1978, she first performed "Ondanondu kaaladaga" in the Kannada film Ondanondu Kaladaga (Meaning: Girish Karnad's Once upon a time). The song was written by Jnanpit awardee Chandrashekhara Kambara and Bhaskar Chandavarkar's music. Ondanondu kaladaga with its folk touch became a hit and earned fame for Kavita Krishnamurti, who was the only song in the entire film. Then she went on to perform many Kannada-language songs.

In 1980, she sang "Kaahe Ko Byahi" in Maang Bharo Sajana (1980), where she performed in her own voice. The song was unfortunately cut from the film's final cut. "Tumse Milkar Na Kyon," from Hindi film Pyaar Jhukta Nahin (1985), a female milkar, was her first major hit (1985). Tumse milkar. Na Jaane kyun. Following the success of the album, it opened up possibilities beyond the Laxmikant–Pyarelal camp. However, "Hawa Hawaii" and "Karte Hain Hum Pyaar Mr. India Se," two famous songs from Mr. India (1986), "elect Hain Hum Pyaar Mr. India se") was a turning point in her career. (The songs were created by music composers Laxmikant-Pyarelal, the former being a duet with Kishore Kumar and lip-synced on film by an actress Sridevi). Several hits were produced as a result of her Laxmikant-Pyarelal's collaboration.

Kavita emerged as one of the best female playback singers in the 1990s. R.D.'s appearance as a singer in 1942: A Love Story. Burman gained international renown. Kavita began a career as one of the best female playback singers alongside Alka Yagnik in 1942: A Love Story, Yaraana, Agni Sakshi, Bhairavi, and Khamoshi. Bappi Lahiri, Anand–Milind, A. R. Rahman, Rajesh Roshan, Raamlaxman, Ismail Darbar, Himesh Shree, Aadesh Shrivastava, Nadeem-Shravan, Viju Shah, and Anu Malik followed her on to work with many music directors of the 1990s Hindi films, including Bappi Lahiri, Anand–Milind, A. R. A. R. Rahman and Ismail Darbar's performances have to be some of the most popular renditions of the last two decades. She performed duets with the leading male singers of her day during her time as a playback singer. She appeared duets with Kishore Kumar, Mohammed Rafi, and Shailendra Singh early in her career. Amit Kumar, Mohammad Aziz, Udit Narayan, Kumar Sanu, and Abhijeet Bhattacharya were among the leading singers of the 1990s. Sonu Nigam, Shaan, and Babul Supriyo have all performed with younger singers in the 2000s, including Sonu Nigam, Shaan, and Babul Supriyo. The bulk of her female duets have been with Alka Yagnik, Anuradha Paudwal, and Sadhana Sargam, with a few duets with Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle. Kavita and Alka Yagnik performed the best for leading ladies in the 90s and early 2000s.

Kavita began exploring fusion music around the globe, including the United States, United Kingdom, UAE, Europe, Africa, Africa, Australia, East Asia, Middle East, and South America. She appeared in concert halls, including Royal Albert Hall in London, The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Madison Square Garden in New York City, The Zhongshan Music Hall in Kuala Lumpur, and Gewandhaus Leipzig.

Despite being mainly a playback performer, Kavita has performed with orchestras as a soloist; she has worked with Western artists from jazz, pop, and classical fields. She has lent her voice to many albums. Kavita has appeared on television shows around India as a playback artist. She also sang "Koi Chahat Hasrat" for the album "Women's Day Special Edition: Melodies Everywhere" in 2014. It was designed by Nayab Raja and penned by Dipti Mishra.

Kavita's comeback singing career began with Kannada-language films. Her first film performance appeared in the Kannada film Ondanondu kaladalli (1978) with the same name. Since then, she has appeared in Kannada on several hit songs. "Bareya mounada Kavithe" (Sparsha), "Hoove Hoove" (H2O), "Endo Kanda Kanasu"), "O Malle o dumbi" (Lankesh Patrike), "Endo Kanda" (Raja Huli), and many more hit songs made her a household name in Karnataka.

The most prominent ones being:

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Awards and nominations

• 2015 - Honorary Doctorate from Jain University, Bangalore
• 2000 - Accolades for her include the “Best Singer of the Millennium” award at the Stardust Millennium 2000 Awards