Jagjit Singh Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Jagjit Singh
Jagjit Singh performing at Rabindra Mandap, Bhubaneswar, on 7 September 2011
Born	Jagmohan Singh Dhiman (1941-02-08)8 February 1941 Sri Ganganagar, Bikaner State, British India (present-day Rajasthan, India)
Died	10 October 2011(2011-10-10) (aged 70) Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Occupation	Music director, composer, singer
Spouse(s)	Chitra Singh (m. 1969)
Children	2
Musical career
Genres	Ghazal, classical, devotional, folk, Bhajan
Instruments	Vocals, harmonium, tanpura, piano, tabla
Years active	1960–2011
Labels	EMI, HMV, Saregama, Universal, Sony BMG, CBS, Polydor, TIPS, Venus, T-Series, Magna Sound, Big, Times

Jagjit Singh (born Jagmohan Singh Dhiman; 8 February 1941 – 10 October 2011) was a famous Indian composer, singer, and musician. He sang and composed music in many languages. He is known for making ghazal music popular again. Ghazal is a traditional Indian art form where poems are sung. Jagjit Singh chose poems that ordinary people could understand. He set them to music that focused on the words' meaning and the feelings they created.

His singing style, called Bol-pradhan, put a lot of importance on the words. He showed this in his music for films like Prem Geet (1981), Arth (1982), and Saath Saath (1982). He also composed for TV shows like Mirza Ghalib (1988). Jagjit Singh is considered one of the most successful ghazal singers ever. His long career and many albums helped define the ghazal music style.

In 1987, his album Beyond Time was the first in India to be recorded digitally. He was a very important artist in India. Jagjit Singh also cared about helping others. He supported charities like CRY and Save the Children. In 2003, the Indian government gave him the Padma Bhushan award. This is one of India's highest civilian awards. In 2014, special postal stamps were released to honor him.

Early Life and Career
Achievements in Music
Personal Life
Death
Legacy and Recognition
Images for kids
See also

Early Life and Career

Jagjit Singh (middle) with poet Shahid Kabir and his son, Sameer Kabeer

Jagjit Singh Dhiman was born in Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan, India. His father, Sardar Amar Singh Dhiman, worked for the government. He came from a village in Ropar district of Punjab.

Jagjit Singh first went to school in Sri Ganganagar. He then earned a degree in arts from DAV College, Jalandhar. In 1961, he started his music career at All India Radio's Jalandhar station. He sang and composed music there. Later, he studied history at Kurukshetra University in Haryana.

From a young age, Jagjit Singh had a natural talent for music. His father noticed this and encouraged him. He learned Indian classical music from Pandit Chagan Lal Sharma. Later, he learned from Ustad Jamal Khan. These teachers taught him different styles of Hindustani Classical singing. Even though his father wanted him to be an engineer, Jagjit Singh loved music very much. He performed on stage and composed music throughout his teenage years.

In March 1965, Jagjit Singh moved to Bombay (now Mumbai). He did this without telling his family. Bombay had many chances for musicians because of the Hindi film industry. He first found work singing for advertisements. Later, he became a playback singer for films.

Achievements in Music

Singh with Lata Mangeshkar at the audio release of Saadgi

In 1967, Jagjit Singh met Chitra Dutta. She was also a singer. They got married in December 1969. After their son, Vivek, was born, they started singing together. They became very famous with their album The Unforgettable, released in 1977. Before this, ghazal music was mostly sung by Muslim artists, especially from Pakistan.

The Unforgettable was their first big album. It was different from other ghazal music at the time. This album made them stars. The song "Baat Niklegi" from the album became very popular. People said it changed Indian popular and ghazal music forever. The album used modern music styles. It had ten songs, with some sung by both Jagjit and Chitra, and others sung alone.

Jagjit Singh wanted to make ghazal music more appealing to modern listeners. He chose simple poems and set them to simple tunes. He also used Western musical instruments to make the songs more lively. After this success, Jagjit and Chitra worked on many solo and joint music projects. They performed concerts all over the world. They also worked in the film industry and earned a lot of money.

Some of their famous albums from the 1970s and 1980s include Shiv Kumar Batalvi – Birha da Sultan (1978) and Live in Concert at Wembley (1979). "The Latest" by Sudarshan Faakir was a best-selling album. It included his hit song "Woh Kagaz ki Kashti...Woh Baarish ka Paani". Ecstasies (1984) is also considered one of their best works.

In 1990, their joint projects stopped. Their 20-year-old son, Vivek, died in a car accident. Chitra felt she could not sing anymore after this sad event.

Jagjit Singh continued to work and have success even after Chitra stopped singing. He was deeply affected by his son's death. He worked on solo projects in many languages. He also worked with the famous singer Lata Mangeshkar on an album called Sajda. This Urdu word means "prostration."

Jagjit Singh also sang for films like Arth, Saath Saath, and Premgeet. He composed all the songs for Premgeet. He also composed music for the TV show Mirza Ghalib, which was about the poet Mirza Ghalib.

In 2007, Jagjit Singh sang a famous ghazal by Bahadur Shah Zafar in the Parliament of India. This was to remember the 150th anniversary of the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

Personal Life

In 1990, Jagjit and Chitra Singh's son, Vivek, died in a road accident. He was 20 years old. This was a very difficult time for them. They stopped making music for a whole year. After that, Jagjit slowly started singing again. But Chitra decided to retire and never sang or recorded songs again.

In his later life, Jagjit Singh had some health problems. He had diabetes and high blood pressure. He also had two heart bypass surgeries in 1998 and 2007. He used to smoke a lot but stopped after his first heart attack.

Death

Jagjit Singh turned 70 in February 2011. To celebrate, he planned 70 concerts around the world. He toured places like the UK, Singapore, and Mauritius. He was supposed to perform with Ghulam Ali in Mumbai. But on 23 September 2011, he suffered a brain haemorrhage. He was in a coma for more than two weeks. He passed away on 10 October 2011, at Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai. He was cremated the next day.

Many people paid tribute to Jagjit Singh after he died.

Legacy and Recognition

A book about Jagjit Singh, called Beyond Time, was released in 2012. It was based on many hours of interviews with him. A documentary film about his life, called Kaagaz Ki Kashti, has also been made. This film shows his journey from struggling musician to a famous ghazal singer. It also covers his personal life, including his joys and losses. The film is available on Amazon Prime Video.

Jagjit Singh received many awards and honors:

In 2012, the government of Rajasthan gave him its highest civilian award, the Rajasthan Ratna.
He won the Indian Telly Award for best title singer for a TV show in 2002 and 2005.
In 2003, the Indian government awarded him the Padma Bhushan.
In 1998, he received the Sahitya Akademi Award. This was for making the work of Mirza Ghalib popular.
He also received the Sahitya Kala Academy Award from the Rajasthan government in 1998.
The Delhi Government gave him the Ghalib Academy Award in 2005.
He received the Dayawati Modi Award in 1999.
The Madhya Pradesh government gave him the Lata Mangeshkar Samman in 1998.
Kurukshetra University gave him an honorary doctorate (D.Litt.) in 2003.
He won the Teacher's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.
On his 72nd birthday, 8 February 2013, Google honored him with a special doodle.