Jagjit Singh

In 1967 he met Chitra Dutta, a married Bengali singer. Soon she divorced her first husband and married him in December 1969. They performed together in many critically as well as commercially successful albums.

They were blessed with a son, Vivek, who unfortunately died in an accident in 1990. The couple was shattered by this loss and Chitra quit singing after the incident. Even though he continued singing, he was deeply afflicted by the incident for the rest of his life.

He died on October 10, 2011 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India due to cerebral hemorrhage after being in coma for two weeks. He was cremated at Chandanwadi Crematorium in Mumbai.

He was born on February 8, 1941 in Sri Ganganagar, Bikaner princely state, India, to Sardar Amar Singh Dhiman, a government official, and his wife, Sardarni Bachchan. He was one of seven children of his parents.

He received his early education from the Khalsa High School and Sri Ganganagar Government College. Later he attended the DAV College at Jalandhar and graduated with arts degree. Then he obtained a post-graduate degree in history from Kurukshetra University in Haryana.

With a natural flair for music which his father spotted in him, he was encouraged to learn music from renowned classical musicians such as ‘Pandit Chaganlal Sharma’ and ‘Ustad Jamaal Khan’ in the early years of his life.

In 1965, he traveled to Mumbai to pursue a career as a musical artist in the entertainment industry. Initially, he worked as a jingle writer for advertisements and performed at wedding functions.

Later, he started his career as a playback singer and persuaded the record company HMV to produce an ‘Extended Play (EP)’. He also acted in his first film in ‘Dharati Na Chhoru’, a Gujarati production by Suresh Amin.

In 1976, he released his first successful LP titled ‘The Unforgettable’, along with his wife, Chitra. The album was an instant hit.

Subsequently, the singing duo recorded albums such as ‘Biraha Da Sultan’ (1978) and ‘Come Alive in a Concert’ (1979). In later years, the couple released many more successful albums including ‘Ecstasies’ (1984), ‘A Sound Affair’ (1985) and ‘Passions’ (1987).

His later solo albums include ‘Hope’ (1991), ‘In Search’ (1992), ‘Visions’ (1992), ‘Mirage’ (1995) and ‘Love Is Blind’ (1998) which received considerable success. Besides ghazals, he also sang devotional songs in albums such as ‘Man Jeetey Jagjit’ (1990), ‘Maa’ (1993), ‘Hare Ram Hare Krishna’ (1999).

One of his most celebrated works is the album ‘The Unforgettable’ (1976) which features compositions such as ‘Baat Niklaygi Toh’ and ‘Sarakti Jaye Hai’. The album was an immediate success and established him and his wife, as remarkable Ghazal singers.

In 1988, he composed all of the songs for ‘Mirza Ghalib’, a TV series based on the life of the eponymous poet, Mirza Ghalib, featuring some of his evergreen tracks such as ‘Hazaron Khwahishen Aisi’ and ‘Dil-e-Nadaan Tujhe’.