Legendary Indian singer Jagjit Singh also known as 'The Ghazal King' is no longer with us. The most mesmerizing voice in Indian Ghazal singing ended early in the morning today around 8 a.m.
Jagjit Singh was admitted to Lilavati hospital in Mumbai on September 23 following brain haemorrhage. He was 70 and is survived by his wife Chitra Singh.
Awarded Padma Bhushan in 2003, Jagjit Singh was born in Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan on February 8, 1941. His parents wanted him to be an IAS officer but music was his calling. He left his studies prematurely at the Kurukshetra University and went to Mumbai in 1965 to try his luck as a singer/composer. Jagjit Singh gained acclaim together with his wife in the 1970s and 1980s, as the first ever successful duo act (husband-wife) in the history of recorded Indian music.
Jagjit has sung gazals written by all the popular poets like Galib, Mir, Khusroo has sung in Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Sindhi and Nepali languages.
'Woh Jo Hum Mein Tum Mein', 'Zoom Ke Jab Rindoon Ne Ne Pila Di', 'Deewaron Se Chupkar Rona', 'Yeh Kare Ya Woh Kare', 'Hungama Hai Kyu Barpa', 'Patta Patta Bota Boota', 'Kagaz Ki Khasti', 'Tum Ko Dekha Toh Ye Karar Aaya' are some of his most memorable ghazals.
Jagjit Singh can easily be referred to as a person who popularized Ghazals in India and is largely credited to have brought ghazals into Bollywood celeb mainstream songs. His songs had haunting quality to them and his melodies were famous for its purity and innocence.
Notable among his film career were his role as music director in movies 'Arth' and 'Saath Saath'. He also sung for movies like 'Sarfarosh' and 'Tarqeeb'.