Alka Yagnik facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Alka Yagnik
Yagnik in 2023
Born	(1966-03-20) 20 March 1966 (age 59) Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Occupation	Playback singer
Spouse(s)	Neeraj Kapoor ​ (m. 1989)​
Children	1
Awards	Full list
Musical career
Genres	Filmi
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1980–present

Alka Yagnik (born 20 March 1966) is a famous Indian playback singer. She is well-known for her songs in Hindi cinema, also called Bollywood. She was one of the most popular singers in the 1990s.

Alka Yagnik has won many awards for her singing. These include two National Film Awards and a record seven Filmfare Awards for Best Female Playback Singer. She has been nominated for this award thirty-seven times.

She is one of the most active female singers in Bollywood. She has sung many solo songs. In her career of over forty years, she has sung for more than a thousand films. She has recorded over 22,000 songs in more than 25 different languages.

Many of her songs are on BBC's list of the top forty Bollywood soundtracks ever. As of June 2024, she is ranked number one on YouTube's Music Charts & Insights list of top global artists. She gets around 360-400 million views each week. This means she gets about 18 billion views per year, which is a huge record!

The Guinness World Records recognized Alka Yagnik as the most streamed artist in the world in 2022. She had 15.3 billion YouTube views that year. About 80% of these views came from India. She is also the most listened-to artist in Pakistan. The record book also noted that she has been the most popular artist on YouTube for the past three years. She had 17 billion streams in 2021 and 16.6 billion in 2020.

Early Life and Music Journey

Alka Yagnik was born in Kolkata on 20 March 1966. Her family is Gujarati. Her mother, Shubha, was a singer of Indian classical music.

Alka started singing at age six for Akashvani (All India Radio), Calcutta. When she was ten, her mother took her to Mumbai. They wanted her to become a child singer. She was told to wait until her voice grew stronger. But her mother did not give up.

Later, Alka got a letter to meet famous filmmaker Raj Kapoor. He heard her sing and sent her to music director Laxmikant. Laxmikant was impressed. He offered her two choices: start right away as a dubbing artist or wait to become a singer. Her mother chose for her to become a singer. Alka has said that she was a good student but did not enjoy studying much.

Alka Yagnik's Singing Career

Alka Yagnik learned classical singing. She began by singing Bhajans (devotional songs) for All India Radio. Her first song for a film was in Payal Ki Jhankaar (1980). Then she sang "Mere Angane Mein" for Laawaris (1981). After that, she sang for the film Hamari Bahu Alka (1982).

Her big break came with the song "Ek Do Teen" from the movie Tezaab (1988). She recorded this song even when she had a high fever! This song won her her first Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer. She has won seven of these awards in total.

Besides Hindi, Alka Yagnik has sung in over twenty-five other languages. These include Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Malayalam, Marathi, Manipuri, Odia, Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Tamil and Telugu. She has also sung 15 Pakistani songs. She performs in live concerts all over the world. In an interview, she said she used to record five songs every day.

She won another Filmfare award for the song "Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai" from Khalnayak (1993). She shared this award with Ila Arun. She also sang the female version of this song. Alka Yagnik has performed many shows with music directors Kalyanji-Anandji and Laxmikant-Pyarelal.

In the 1990s, Alka Yagnik and Kavita Krishnamurthy sang most of the songs for lead actresses.

Alka Yagnik also worked on private music albums. These include "Tum Yaad Aaye" (1997) with lyricist Javed Akhtar. She also made "Tum Aaye" (2002) with Javed Akhtar and singer Hariharan. Another album was "Shairana" (2003) with Javed Akhtar and singer-composer Shankar Mahadevan. She has also sung the Hanuman Chalisa and other devotional songs.

Her song "Chamma Chamma" from China Gate was used in the film Moulin Rouge!. It was part of a song called "Hindi Sad Diamonds".

In 2012, she sang "Shiksha Ka Suraj" with Sonu Nigam. This song was for India's National Literacy Mission. She was honored for this by a government minister. Also in 2012, her song "Taal Se Taal Mila" from Taal was voted the best song of the century. This was in a poll by DesiMartini, Hindustan Times, and Fever 104. Her song "Choli Ke Peeche" from Khalnayak was voted the "hottest song of the century" in another poll.

Alka Yagnik has also supported projects to help girls. In 2014, she and Sonu Nigam sang "Phool Khil Jayenge" to raise awareness about child health. She also sang "Maine Li Jo Angdai" for an album called Women's Day Special: Spreading Melodies Everywhere.

In 2015, she sang "Agar Tum Saath Ho." The music director, A.R. Rahman, gave her instructions over a Skype video call. He told her to sing the song in her own style.

Alka Yagnik shares the record for the most Filmfare Awards for Best Female Playback Singer with Asha Bhosle. Both have won seven awards. She has sung 2,486 Hindi songs in 1,114 films. She is the fifth most active Bollywood singer of all time. She is also the third most active female playback singer. She has sung the most female solo songs after Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle.

Alka Yagnik's Singing Style

Alka Yagnik says her mother was her first teacher in singing. She started singing at age four. Besides her mother, she also learned from Kalyanji-Anandji and Laxmikant–Pyarelal.

She has sung many types of songs. But Alka believes her voice is best suited for romantic songs. Most of her duet songs were with Kumar Sanu. After that, she sang many duets with Udit Narayan and Sonu Nigam. She is known for her romantic songs with Kumar Sanu. She sang many lively songs with Udit Narayan. She, Kumar Sanu, and Udit Narayan are known as the "trinity" of 1990s playback singing.

Alka Yagnik in the Media

Alka Yagnik is often called "the queen of playback singing." On Mother's Day in 2019, she became the most-streamed Indian artist-mom on Spotify. The Times of India has called her a "honey-voiced singer." Hindustan Times described her voice as "magical." Mid-Day included her in a list of important 1990s playback singers. Famous singer Sunidhi Chauhan once said she could only dream of reaching the level of Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, and Alka Yagnik.

Personal Life

Alka Yagnik married Neeraj Kapoor, a businessman from Shillong, in 1989. They have a daughter named Syesha.

Discography

Alka Yagnik on Television

Besides singing, Alka Yagnik has also been a judge on many singing reality shows on TV.

She also judged Star Voice of India. She appeared as a guest with Udit Narayan in Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L'il Champs. She has also been a judge on Fame Gurukul, Superstar Singer 2, Super Singer Plus, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa-2009, Indian Idol, and two seasons of Bengali Sa Re Ga Ma Pa.

Awards and Recognitions

Alka Yagnik has won many awards. She won two National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer. One was for "Ghoongat Ki Aad Se" from Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke (1993). The other was for "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998).

She has won a record seven Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer. These were for her songs:

• "Ek Do Teen" from Tezaab (1988)
• "Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai" from Khalnayak (1993)
• "Zara Tasveer Se Tu" from Pardes (1998)
• "Taal Se Taal" from Taal (2000)
• "Dil Ne Yeh Kaha Hai Dil Se" from Dhadkan (2001)
• "O Re Chhori" from Lagaan (2002)
• "Hum Tum" from Hum Tum (2005)

She was nominated for this award thirty-six times. She has also won two Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards. In 2019, Alka Yagnik received the Lata Mangeshkar Award for her great work in music.

See also

In Spanish: Alka Yagnik para niños

• List of Indian playback singers