Biography of Kishore Kumar

Born: 4 August 1929, Khandwa
Died: 13 October 1987, Mumbai

India has had a tradition of great singers but there never has been anyone quite like the irrepressible Kishore Kumar. Though having an untrained voice, his exuberant songs have kept us entertained and enthralled.

Kishore Kumar was born in Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh, in 1929. He came to Bombay at the age of 18, where his elder brother Ashok Kumar was a major star. After a few years of struggle, it was with the song ‘Qusoor Aapka' in the film 'Bahar’ (1951) that Kishore achieved recognition in the singing arena.

Kishore assimilated jazz-scat fragmented musical notes into a rhythmic sequence and once its beat was established, departed from the pattern and combined notes and words or syllables into new kinds of musical harmony. Moreover, none could model better than Kishore Kumar. In the 1980s and 1990s, he lent his voice to the superstars of the time like Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan. He died in 1987.