Lata Mangeshkar

Lata Mangeshkar was born in Indore into a musical family led by classical singer Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar. Taking up singing at age thirteen to support her mother and four younger siblings following her father's premature death, she moved to Bombay and overcame initial rejections from producers who considered her voice "too thin."

With her pristine diction, flawless pitch, and unmatched emotional expressiveness, Mangeshkar became the definitive female voice of Indian cinema. In 1963, her performance of the patriotic hymn "Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo" honoring fallen soldiers moved Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to tears. She lent her voice to generations of Bollywood leading ladies, from Madhubala to Preity Zinta, working with every master composer from S.D. Burman to A.R. Rahman. In 2001, she received the Bharat Ratna, and India observed two days of national mourning upon her death.