Over the course of nearly eight decades, Mangeshkar was a major presence as a playback singer, singing songs that were later lip-synced by actors in India’s lavish Bollywood musicals. She was also fondly revered as the « Melody Queen » and « Nightingale of India. »
Lata Mangeshkar, a legendary Indian singer with a prolific, groundbreaking catalog and a voice recognized by more than a billion people in South Asia, has died. She was 92. The iconic singer died Sunday morning of multiple organ failure at Breach Candy hospital in Mumbai, her physician, Dr. Pratit Samdani, told reporters. She was hospitalized on Jan.11 after contracting COVID-19. She was taken off the ventilator after her condition improved in late January but her health deteriorated on Saturday and was put back on life support. Mangeshkar received a state funeral and Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew in from New Delhi to pay his last respects. Modi laid a wreath next to Mangeshkar’s body, wrapped in the Indian flag, as thousands, including Bollywood stars and politicians, thronged Mumbai’s iconic Shivaji Park where she was cremated amid the chanting of vedic hymns and a special gun salute. India’s public broadcaster, Doordarshan, transmitted live scenes of the cremation to a grieving nation while Mangeshkar’s songs played in the background. India declared two days of national mourning and lowered the country’s flags through Monday. Condolence messages poured in immediately after Mangeshkar’s death was announced. “I am anguished beyond words,” Modi said in a tweet. “She leaves a void in our nation that cannot be filled.
