K. S. Chithra | |
|---|---|
 Chithra in 2022 | |
| Born | Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra (1963-07-27)27 July 1963 (age 61) |
| Alma mater | University of Kerala |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1979–present |
| Spouse | |
| Honours | See list |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | |
| Instrument | Vocals |
| Labels | Audiotracs |
Musical artist | |
| Website | www |
Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra (born 27 July 1963) is an Indianplayback singer andCarnatic musician.[citation needed] In a career spanning around fivedecades, she has recorded over 20,000 Songs in variousIndian languages languages such asTamil,Kannada,Hindi,Telugu,Malayalam,Odia,Bengali,Punjabi,Rajasthani,Awadhi,Marathi,Tulu,Badaga, Braj,Banjara,Urdu,Assamese,Gujarati,Manipuri andSanskrit,[1][2][3][4] as well asforeign languages such asMalay,Latin,Arabic,Sinhalese,Urdu (Pakistan),English andFrench.[5][6]
Chithra, renowned for her extraordinary vocal talent, is widely recognised as theGolden Voice ofIndia, a title bestowed upon her by the prestigiousRoyal Albert Hall,London in 2001.[7][8][9]The Times Group has honoured her as theMelody Queen ofIndian Cinema in 2016,[2][10][11][8] reflecting her immense contribution to the industry. She is also celebrated as theLittle Nightingale ofIndian Cinema,[12]Nightingale ofSouth India,[13][7] and in different regions, she is known by various affectionate titles:Piya Basanti inNorth India,[13]Vanambadi inKerala,[14]Chinna Kuyil inTamil Nadu,[15][16]Kannada Kogile inKarnataka[6] andSangeeta Saraswathi inAndhra Pradesh and Telangana states.[13] She is also known for her extensive history of collaboration with music composers likeA. R. Rahman,Ilaiyaraja,M. M. Keeravani,Hamsalekha,[17] and with the playback singersK. J. Yesudas andS. P. Balasubrahmanyam over the years.
Chithra is a recipient of 6National Film Awards, 10Filmfare Awards South[18] and 43State Government awards from 8states of India including 18 fromKerala, 12 fromUnited Andhra Pradesh, 5 fromTamil Nadu, 4 fromKarnataka, and 1 each fromOdisha,West Bengal,Madhya Pradesh[19] andMaharashtra[20] governments.[21][22][23] She was awarded India's third-highest civilian honoursPadma Bhushan in 2021 andPadma Shri in 2005 for her valuable contributions towards the Indian musical fraternity.[24][25]
She is honoured with the titleFirst Ladies by thePresident of India in 2018 for being the first Indian woman to be honoured byBritish Parliament atHouse of Commons,United Kingdom in 2003.[26][27][28] In 2009, she became the first Indian artist to be honoured byGovernment of China while performing live at theQinghai International river festival.[29][2] BarringLata Mangeshkar, she also remains the second female playback singer fromIndia to have performed at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall in London in 2001 and her Performance was applauded with much appreciation by a roomful of an international audience.[30][29] Her song "Kannalane/Kehna Hi Kya" from the filmBombay (1995) was included in United KingdomThe Guardian's "1000 Songs Everyone Must Hear Before You Die" list.[31]
Chithra was born 27 July 1963[32] in the city ofTrivandrum (now Thiruvananthapuram) of theKerala state. Her father, Krishnan Nair was a school teacher and a music enthusiast who taught basics of music to all his three children.[33] He died after a long battle with cancer on 18 July 1986. Her mother Shanthakumari was also a music teacher. She has an elder sister, K. S. Beena who is a former singer and younger brother K. S. Mahesh who is a musician.[34] Chithra completed her schooling at the Cotton Hill Government Girls High School in Thiruvananthapuram. She acknowledges that it was the teachers of the school who spotted her talent in music.[35]
Chithra received her training inCarnatic music fromK. Omanakutty for seven years. She graduated inB.A. in music with first class and third rank from theUniversity of Kerala.[36] She was selected for theNational Talent Search Scholarship from theGovernment of India during the period 1978 - 1984.[37]
K. S. Chithra was introduced toMalayalam playback byM. G. Radhakrishnan in 1979 who recorded her voice for films and private albums.[36]Attahasam,Snehapoorvam[38]Meera andNjan Ekananu were the first few films in which she recorded her voice. She also performed live concerts withK. J. Yesudas in India and abroad.[36] The song "Manjal Prasadavum" from the filmNakhakshathangal (1986) composed byBombay Ravi got her the secondNational Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer. For the same composer, she sang the song "Indupushpam Choodi Nilkum" for the filmVaishali (1989) and won her third National Film Award. Her firstKerala State Film Award for Best Singer was for the song"Poomaname" from the filmNirakkoottu (1985) composed byShyam. Since then, she has earned wide recognition by singing popular songs under the compositions ofRaveendran,Shyam,S. P. Venkitesh,Mohan Sithara,Salil Chowdhury,Kannur Rajan,Ilaiyaraaja,Johnson,Ouseppachan,M. K. Arjunan,A. T. Ummer,Berny Ignatius,M. B. Sreenivasan,Mohan Sithara,Vidyasagar,Ramesh Narayan,Sharreth,M. Jayachandran andDeepak Dev.[36] She is regarded as"Nightingale of Kerala (Vanambadi)" and recorded many successful songs in Malayalam. She recorded a number of songs for the composerS. P. Venkitesh and her maximum duet songs in Malayalam are withK. J. Yesudas andM. G. Sreekumar. As of 2017, she has won the Kerala State Awards for the record 16 times. Her latest song"Theerame" from the movieMalik (2021) became another awesome hit in Malayalam Music Industry.[39][40][41][42]
Chithra's first Telugu song was "Paadalenu Pallavaina" from the dubbed version of Tamil filmSindhu Bhairavi (1985) composed byIlaiyaraaja, later sang a humming in a song sung byK. J. Yesudas composed byK. V. Mahadevan for the picture Pralayam (1985). Her first song in a Telugu film is "Gelupu Maade" fromVijrumbhana (1986), composed byK. Chakravarthy. Later went on to sing songs to many Telugu composers likeSathyam,Raj-Koti, Ilaiyaraja, K. V. Mahadevan & K. Chakravarthy for the years 1986–88, but she gained initial recognition/break-through for compositions by Ilaiyaraja like "Jallanta Kavvinta" fromGeethanjali (1989) & "Ninnukori Varnam" from Gharshana( 1988) and then went onto sing several songs to many composers in Telugu. It was from then onwards that she became a notable singer in Telugu and went on to record every other song in each album being the solo card female singer for almost all the films in the 90s. It was the moment where she established herself as a well recognised singer and strengthening her position in Telugu films by almost taking the place ofS. Janaki from 1990.[43] Chithra received her firstNandi Award, presented byGovernment of Andhra Pradesh for "Kalika Chilakala Koliki" fromSeetharamayya Gari Manavaralu (1991). She won a total of 11 Nandi Awards asBest Female Playback Singer for various Telugu songs.[44] As the years passed by Chithra was recognised as a legendary singer in Telugu whose era or legacy was considered to be the golden era standing next toP. Susheela andS. Janaki. As of today Chithra is considered as one of the finest singers of the Telugu film industry whose charisma is remarkable. She sang maximum songs in Telugu toM. M. Keeravani and also worked with almost every notable composer from then to till date.
Chithra was introduced to Hindi film music in 1985; she recorded her first Hindi song composed byS. P. Venkitesh, which was not commercially released. For the 1991 Hindi filmLove, composersAnand–Milind, called upon her to sing duets song along withS. P. Balasubrahmanyam and since then, Chithra has recorded for around 200 Bollywood songs.[45]
Apart from film songs, Chithra recorded for many private albums of whichPiya Basanti andSunset Point became hugely popular and went on to win several laurels including the MTV Music Video Awards. The popularity of the former album made her known among the Northern part of Indians identify her as "Piya Basanti" Chitra.[46]
Chithra has sung over 25,000 songs.[1]
Apart from playback singing, she also appeared among the panel of judges in the singingreality television shows atKerala (Idea Star Singer andJosco Indian Voice),[51] atTamil Nadu (Airtel Super Singer Junior),[52] where she also won the award for Best Female Judge and atAndhra Pradesh (MAA TV)Super Singer. Apart from this judgement panel she has appeared in music-shows like Swarabhishekam, Super Masti, Jhumandi Nadam. She is a regular singer inIlayaraja's,A.R. Rahman's andS.P. Balasubrahmanyam's concerts.[citation needed] She has performed all over the world inSPB's concerts along withS. P. Sailaja,S. P. Charan. She has been a regular singer participating in all the concerts of SPB50-The World Tour, she has performed almost all around the world withS. P. B. Charan,S. P. Sailaja,Sunitha UpadrashtaKarthik &Shweta Mohan.[citation needed]
She had performed at the Royal Albert Hall[53] and House of Commons[citation needed] in London. On 6 June 2009, she performed in Qinghai International Musical Journey on Water and Life concert with a rendition of "Tunga Tarange Gange" alongside other singers from nations located around various major rivers such as theGanges,Volga,Rhine,Danube,Mississippi, andAmazon.[54][55][56][57]
In 2024, K. S. Chithra headlined theChithra Varnam[58] concert on 11 May at the Chabot Performing Arts Center, Hayward, California. Organised by Kalalaya sponsored by Nambiar Builders, the event featured her signature melodies across multiple Indian languages, with support from musicians such asSharreth andK. K. Nishad. The concert celebrated Mother's Day, adding a sentimental note to the evening.[59]
Chithra recorded her first studio album with Voodoo Rapper for the album calledRagga Raaga in 1993.[citation needed] She recorded the albums in Hindi,Piya Basanti (2000) andSunset Point. She associated withUstad Sultan Khan forPiya Basanti which was certifiedGold.[60]Sunset Point had eight songs written and narrated byGulzar and sung by Chithra and Bhupinder.[61] In 2006, she released an album in dedication toM. S. Subbulakshmi namedMy Tribute. It is a collection ofKritis andbhajans dedicated to Subbulakshmi.[62] In 2009 she releasedNightingale: A Salute to Lataji, a musical tribute toLata Mangeshkar on her 80th birthday.[63] She also recorded many Malayalam albums forK. J. Yesudas,M. Jayachandran andSharreth compositions. She also planned aghazal album withGhulam Ali andAsha Bhosle.[62]
Chithra, along with a Kerala-based satellite channel, Asianet Cable Vision (ACV), jointly launched a fundraising organisation, Sneha Nandana, to raise funds for the welfare of retired musicians who have lost their careers due to changes in the music industry.[citation needed] She launched this organisation on the occasion of her completion of three decades in the music playback industry. She said that the fund would provide help to the musicians with financial impediments and those suffering from health problems.[citation needed] A cultural event called Chithra Pournami was held on 15 February 2011 atThiruvananthapuram to celebrate the 30th year of her career and also to launch this organisation.[65]
She is honoured with the titleFirst Ladies by thePresident of India in 2018 for being the first Indian woman to be honoured byBritish Parliament atHouse of Commons,United Kingdom in 2003.[27][28] In 2024, she was again honoured by the British Parliament, United Kingdom, with the titleThe Greatest Indian Singer of All Times.[7] In 2009, She became the first Indian artist to be honoured byGovernment of China while performing live at theQinghai International river festival.[29][2] Chithra is a recipient of 6National Film Awards, 10Filmfare Awards South[18] and 43State Government awards from 8states of India including 18 fromKerala, 12 fromUnited Andhra Pradesh, 5 fromTamil Nadu, 4 fromKarnataka, and 1 each fromOdisha,West Bengal,Madhya Pradesh andMaharashtra governments[21][22][19][23] She was awarded India's third-highest civilian honoursPadma Bhushan in 2021 andPadma Shri in 2005 for her valuable contributions towards the Indian musical fraternity.[24][25]
BarringLata Mangeshkar, she also remains the second female playback singer from India to have performed at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall in London in 2001 and her Performance was applauded with much appreciation by a roomful of an international audience.[30][29] Her song "Kannalane/Kehna Hi Kya" from the filmBombay (1995) was included in United KingdomThe Guardian's "1000 Songs Everyone Must Hear Before You Die" list.[31]
Chithra is married to Vijayashankar, an engineer and businessman.[66] They had a daughter who was born withDown syndrome, and drowned in a pool inDubai in 2011 when Chithra was about to perform at anA. R. Rahman concert.[67][68]
Media related toK. S. Chithra at Wikimedia Commons
