Lata Mangeshkar was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely considered to have been one of the greatest and most influential singers in India. Her contribution to the Indian music industry in a career spanning seven decades gained her honorific titles such as the "Queen of Melody", "Nightingale of India", and "Voice of the Millennium".
Lata recorded songs in over thirty-six Indian languages and a few foreign languages, though primarily in Marathi, Hindi, and Bengali.[10] Her foreign languages included English, Russian, Dutch, Nepali and Swahili. She received several accolades and honors throughout her career. In 1989, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award was bestowed on her by the Government of India. In 2001, in recognition of her contributions to the nation, she was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour; she is only the second female singer, after M. S. Subbulakshmi, to receive this honour. France conferred on her its highest civilian award, Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honour, in 2007.
She was the recipient of three National Film Awards, 15 Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards, four Filmfare Best Female Playback Awards, two Filmfare Special Awards, the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award and many more. In 1974, she was one of the first Indian playback singers to perform at Royal Albert Hall in London, UK. Her last recorded song was "Saugandh Mujhe Is Mitti ki" released on 30 March 2019 as a tribute to the Indian Army and the Nation.
During the 1990s, Mangeshkar recorded with music directors including Anand–Milind, Nadeem-Shravan, Jatin–Lalit, Dilip Sen-Sameer Sen, Uttam Singh, Anu Malik, Aadesh Shrivastava and A. R. Rahman. She recorded some non-film songs, including ghazals with Jagjit Singh. She has also sung with Kumar Sanu, Amit Kumar, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Udit Narayan, Hariharan, Suresh Wadkar, Mohammed Aziz, Abhijeet Bhattacharya, Roop Kumar Rathod, Vinod Rathod, Gurdas Maan and Sonu Nigam.
In 1990 she launched her own production house for Hindi movies which produced the Gulzar-directed movie Lekin.... She won her third National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer for her rendition of the song "Yaara Sili Sili" from the film, which was composed by her brother Hridaynath.
She has sung for almost all the Yash Chopra films and films from his production house Yash Raj Films at that time, including Chandni (1989), Lamhe (1991), Darr (1993), Yeh Dillagi (1994), Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), Dil To Pagal Hai (1997) and later in Mohabbatein (2000), Mujhse Dosti Karoge! (2002) and Veer-Zaara (2004).
During 1990 she recorded with Raamlaxman in Patthar Ke Phool (1991), 100 Days (1991), Mehboob Mere Mehboob (1992), Saatwan Aasman (1992), I Love You (1992), Dil Ki Baazi (1993), Antim Nyay (1993), The Melody of Love (1993), The Law (1994), Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (1994), Megha (1996), Lav Kush (1997), Manchala (1999), and Dulhan Banoo Main Teri (1999).
From 1998 to 2014, A. R. Rahman recorded a few songs with her, including "Jiya Jale" in Dil Se.. (1998), "Ek Tu Hi Bharosa" in Pukar (2000), "Pyaara Sa Gaon" in Zubeidaa (2000), "So Gaye Hain" in Zubeidaa, "Khamoshiyan Gungunane Lagin" in One 2 Ka 4 (2001), "O Paalanhaare" in Lagaan (2001), "Lukka Chuppi" in Rang De Basanti (2006) and Laadli in Raunaq (2014). She made an on-screen appearance in the film Pukar singing "Ek Tu Hi Bharosa."
In 1994, she released Shraddanjali – My Tribute to the Immortals. The special feature of the album is that Lata offers her tributes to immortal singers of the time by rendering a few of their songs in her own voice. There are songs of K. L. Saigal, Kishore Kumar, Mohammed Rafi, Hemant Kumar, Mukesh, Punkaj Mallick, Geeta Dutt, Zohrabai, Amirbai, Parul Ghosh and Kanan Devi.
She sang both Rahul Dev Burman's first and last songs. In 1994, she sang "Kuch Na Kaho" for Rahul Dev Burman in 1942: A Love Story.
