Mysuru: Legendary playback singer S. Janaki died on Saturday evening at a private hospital in Mysuru following a respiratory illness. She was 88. With a career spanning more than six decades, Janaki recorded around 48,000 songs in 17 languages, earning a place among India's most celebrated voices.
Born on April 23, 1938, in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, Janaki rose to the pinnacle of Indian music without formal training in classical music. Her musical journey began after she secured second place in an All India Radio national music competition in 1956, paving the way for an extraordinary career.
She made her playback singing debut at the age of 19 in the Tamil film Vidhiyin Vilayattu and went on to sing in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi, among other languages. Kannada accounted for the largest share of her recordings. In Malayalam, her first song was Irul Moodukayo En Vazhiyil from the 1957 film Minnunnathellam Ponnalla.
Janaki won the National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer four times for Sindhoora Poove (1976), Ettumanoor Ambalathil (1980), Vennello Godari (1984) and Inji Iduppazhaga (1992). She also received multiple state awards from the governments of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. In 2013, she declined the Padma Bhushan, which the Union government had decided to confer on her.
She lent her voice to more than 1,200 Malayalam film songs, including Thaliritta Kinakkal, Vasantha Panchami Nalil, Suryakanthi, Manimukile, Ettumanoor Ambalathil, Thumbi Vaa Thumbikkudathin and Mizhiyoram. Her death marks the end of an era in Indian playback music.