Kumar Sanu

Kumar Sanu, born Kedarnath Bhattacharya (কেদারনাথ ভট্টাচার্য in Bengali) on 23 September 1957 in Kolkata, is an Indian Bollywood playback singer. He has been one of the most famous singers in the Indian film industry since 1984; he has received numerous awards including the Padma Shri, the Artist of the Decade at the IIFA Awards, and the Best Male Playback Award at the Filmfare Awards (on five successive occasions). Kumar Sanu, along with Muhammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar, are considered among the greatest singers India has ever known.

His father, Pashupati Bhattacharjee, was a singer and composer of Indian classical music who taught him his art as well as how to play the tabla. Kumar earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Calcutta, yet from 1979 he performed publicly for small audiences. Among his influences is Kishore Kumar.

His career began in 1987, when Jagjit Singh invited him to sing in the film Aandhiyan, which led Kumar to move to Bombay where Kalyanji Anandji offered him the chance to sing in Jaadugar. It was on the latter's advice that he changed his Bengali-sounding name to a more neutral one. Kumar would then go on to sing with Naushad, R.D. Burman, Jatin-Lalit, Ismail Darbar, Laxmikant Pyarelal, Naushad, Ravindra Jain, Hridayanath Mangeshkar, Kalyanji Anandji, etc.

In 1990, under the direction of Nadeem-Shravan, he achieved national success and recognition in the film Aashiqui, followed by Saajan (1991), Deewana (1992), Baazigar (1993), and 1942: A Love Story (1994). Other successes were to follow, such as Sadak (1991), Raja Hindustani (1996), and Pardes (1997).

He broke a Guinness World Record by singing (and recording) 28 songs in a single day in 1993. More recently, he has also composed film music and produced the film Utthaan.