Kishore Kumar

Kishore Kumar (August 4, 1929 - October 13, 1987), born as Abhas Ganguly, was a Bengali Indian film playback singer (Hindi, Bangla, Marathi, Assamese, Gujarati, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Oriya) and actor. He also worked as producer, composer and lyricist but is chiefly remembered as one of the three leading male playback singers in Bollywood (the other two being Mohammed Rafi and Mukesh). He sang extensively with the songbirds of Bollywood - Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle.

Initial days in Bollywood

Kishore Kumar followed his elder brothers' footsteps and came to Mumbai to pursue a career in films as a singer. At this juncture, elder brother Anoop's career wasn't shaping up well, because he was a poor singer. (In those days, actors who could double up as singers were in great demand.) Once Anoop went to Austria, from where he brought some records to learn singing. Once, as he was entering the house, he heard a yodelling voice coming out of a room. Annoyed, he thundered "Who touched my records?" But, when he entered the room, he found that it was Kishore's voice! Kishore had learnt yodelling from Anoop's Austrian records.

Related Topics:
Mumbai - Austria - Yodelling

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Kishore wanted to become a leading singer in Bollywood and disliked acting. Moreover, Kishore didn't have any formal training in singing or music. Kishore had to act in a few films, due to his brother Ashok's contacts in the industry. His initial films flopped. But he continued acting, as he would get to sing songs that were picturized on him. At this stage of his career, Kishore used to copy K. L. Saigal's style. Once Sachin Dev Burman came to Ashok Kumar's house. He heard K. L. Saigal's voice coming out of the bathroom. Impressed, S. D. Burman asked Ashok who was singing. Hearing the answer, he waited until Kishore had finished bathing. He had a little talk with Kishore and, while noting that he appreciated his singing, he advised Kishore, "Don't try to ape K. L. Saigal. Apers never make great artists. You should develop your own singing style." After this, Kishore Kumar developed his own trademark singing style, which was completely different from the styles of Rafi, Mukesh and Saigal. He used to yodel in many of his songs. Sachin Dev Burman became his mentor and guide. S D Burman, who had never heard yodelling before, used to call it "gala tod ke gaana" ('break-throat singing'). Yodelling became Kishore's trademark, and the media described his singing style as "yodelling at the moon".

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