Jagjit Singh

Fondly remembered as 'The Ghazal King', Jagjit Singh was a prominent Indian Ghazal singer, composer, music director, activist and entrepreneur.The Ghazal maestro passed away at at Lilavati Hospital at 8 am on 10 October 2011.The 70-year-old was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital on 18 September after he suffered a brain haemorrhage. Surgery was performed on him, but he fell into a coma since 23 September.[caption id="attachment_103321" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="Screengrab from ibnlive"][/caption]Singh is survived by his wife, another renowned Ghazal singer Chitra Singh.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. Chitra stopped giving public performances after their only son, Vivek, died in a road accident in the early 1990s. However, Jagjit Singh continued to be a prolific singer.Jagjit Singh was born in Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan on 8 February 1941. He had four sisters and two brothers and was known as Jeet by his family. Singh was introduced to music as a child by his father. But became a household name only after he joined All India Radio.Singh has left a mark in the history of music by singing in several languages including Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi and Nepali.His voice ruled during early 80′s in films like Prem Geet, Saath Saath and Arth. However, his major work is spread over more than 60 filmy and non-filmy albums. His popular ghazals include, Meri zindagi kisi aur ki, mere naam ka koi aur hai, Apni marzi se kahan apne safar ke hum hain, Wo jo hum mein tumme qaraar tha, Patta-patta boota-boota haal hamaara jaane hai and Hoshwalo ko khabar. He has also sung for popular movies like Sarfarosh and Tarqeeb.Singh was the first Indian music director to use the technique of multi-track recording for his album ‘Beyond Time’.Singh, had a history of heart ailments. In January 1998, he suffered a heart attack, which led him to quit smoking. In October 2007, he was hospitalised following blood circulation problems.But Singh continued to charm his audiences with his charismatic voice. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2003.