ASHA THE SINGER WITH VERSATILITY

ASHA BURMAN but well known among her fan's as ASHA BHOSLE Is surely among the list of those singer's who can sing any type of song's... Her versatility can be seen through her past work.... Asha was born on September 8, 1933 in a small village of Goar in Sangli, Maharashtra to the Marathi family. She is the daughter of Pandit Dinanath Mangeshkar, who was a theater artist as well as a classical singer. She lost her father, when she only nine years old.

She got her first break when she signed the agreement to sing the song "Chala Chala Nav Bala" for the Marathi movie Majha Bal (1943). Her first Hindi song was "Saawan aaya", which was recorded for Hansraj Behl's film Chunariya (1948). When she was sixteen, she fell in love with a 31-year old man Ganpatrao Bhosle and she was firm about marrying him. She eloped with him and tied her wedding knots with him against the wishes of her family. She did not derive happiness in this relationship and after a few years, she shifted to her mother's home along with her kids.

She is one of the most skilled and talented singers. Her music repertoire consists of film music, ghazals, pop, traditional Indian Classical music, folk songs, qawwalis, bhajans, and Rabindra Sangeet. She has sung songs in fourteen languages including Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Tamil, English, Russian and Malay. She has sung nearly 12,000 songs.

Though, she has made a vast collection of music, but she is most famous for the Bollywood songs. She headed her first step towards establishing her career in the year 1943. She has been the most prominent personality of the Indian music industry since the last six decades. She has done playback singing for more than 950 Bollywood movies.

During 1960s and 1970s, she became the voice of the most famous dancer of Bollywood Helen. Popular Asha Bhosle-Helen numbers include Piya tu ab to aaja (Caravan), O Haseena Zulfon Wali (Teesri Manzil) and Yeh Mera Dil (Don). She took up the challenge of showing her versatility by taking up the challenge of singing Ghazals in the films Umrao Jaan (1981) and Ijazat (1987). Her work was widely applauded.

Filmfare Award

Ashaji was the only singer who was able to compete with Lata Mangeshkar, she won the filmfare award consecutively in 1967 & 1968 when Lata still used to accept the Filmfare Award. After 1969, with Lata giving up the Filmfare award the coast was clear for Asha Bhosle and she went on to win the award 7 times which is the maximum any female singer ever won.She gave up the award after 1977. Though Kishore Kumar won the maximum number of filmfare awards, it was because unlike the Mangeshkar sisters he never refused the award. So if we compare till 1977 Asha had won the maximum number of filmfare awards ( Male & Female).

YEAR-Song[Movie Name]

1967 - Garibon Ki Suno [DUS LAKH]

1968 - Parde Mein Rehne Do [SHIKHAR]

1971 - Piya Tu Ab To Aaja [CARAVAN]

1972 - Dum Maro Dum [HARE RAMA HARE KRISHNA]

1973 - Hone Lagi Hain Raat [NAINA]

1974 - Chain Se Humko [PRAN JAYE PAR VACHAN NA JAYE]

1977 - Yeh Mera Dil [DON]

1996 : Filmfare Special Award ( Rangeela Re - RANGEELA)

2001 : Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award

(Ashaji on her recieving the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award)

National Award

1981 - Dil Cheez Kya Hain [UMRAO JAAN]

1986 - Mera Kuch Samaan [IJAZAT]

Other Awards

1987 : Nightingale Of Asia

1989 : Lata Mangeshkar Award (Madhya Pradesh Govt.)

1997 : Screen Videocon Award ( Jaanam Samjha Karo)

1997 : MTV Award ( Jaanam Samjha Karo)

1997 : Channel V Award ( Jaanam Samjha Karo)

1997 : Grammy Award Nomination (Legacy with Ustad Ali Akbar Khan)

1999 : Lata Mangeshar Award (Maharashtra Govt.)

2000 : Singer Of the Millennium ( Dubai)

2000 : Kolhapuri Bhushan Award

2000 : Sangli Bhushan Award

2000 : Omega Excellence Lifetime Achievement Award

2000 : Zee Gold Bollywood Award (Mujhe Rang De - Thakshak)

2001 : MTV Award ( Kambakt Ishq)

2001 : Dada Saheb Phalke Award

2001 : Dayawati Modi Award

2002 : Zee Cine Award (Radha Kaise Na - Lagaan)

2002 : Zee Cine - Hall Of Fame Award

2002 : Screen Videocon Award (Radha Kaise Na - Lagaan)

2002 : Jeevan Gaurav Puraskar

2002 : Sansui Movie Award (Radha Kaise Na - Lagaan)

2002 : Rajshree Shahu Purskar

* Honorary Doctrates from the University Of Amravati & Jalgaon in Literature.

* Ashaji has also recieved the Freddy Mercury Award.

* Ashaji has recieved 14 Maharashtra State Awards & the Sur Singar Award.

* Ashaji is also the first Indian Singer to be nominated for the Grammy Award.

Asha Bhosle Award

In recognition of Asha's extraordinary talent and her services to the field of music, the Asha Bhosle Award has been instituted in 2002. The first recipient of the award is none other than Lata Mangeshkar

Other Awards

1987 - Nightingale of Asia Award

1989 - Lata Mangeshkar Award (Government of Madhya Pradesh)

1997 - Screen Videocon Award

1997 - MTV Award

1997 - Channel V Award

1998 - Dayawati Modi Award

1999 - Lata Mangeshkar Award (Government of Maharashtra)

2000 - Singer of the Millennium

2000 - Zee Gold Bollywood Award

2001 - MTV Award

2002 - BBC Lifetime Achievement Award

2002 - Zee Cine Award

2002 - Screen Videocon Award

2002 - Sansui Movie Award

2002 - Swaralaya Yesudas Award

2004 - Living Legend Award by the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce

BABU - MAIN KUNWARI