S. Janaki (born April 23, 1938) is an Indian female playback singer. She is a Telugu by birth, but has gained popularity in the whole of South India. She is renowned for her voice modulation abilities. She has sung in Indian languages including Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi.[ Janaki is also a lyricist and a composer. She has worked with almost all the music directors of her time. Janaki and S P Balasubramanyam form the most popular singing combination in South India.
| S. Janaki | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 23, 1938 Nellore, Madras Presidency, British India |
| Genres | playback singing, Indian classical |
| Occupations | Singer |
| Instruments | Vocalist |
| Years active | 1957-present |
Early life
S. Janaki was born into a Telugu Brahmin family in Pallapatla, Repalle village, in Guntur, Madras Presidency, now part of Andhra Pradesh.
She was interested in music from early age and started performing at the age of three. She learned music from Sree Paidiswamy, a nadaswaram Vidwan.
Singing career
Janaki started singing at the age of 19. She later moved to Chennai on the advice of her uncle Dr. Chandrashekar and joined AVM Studios as a singer. She started her career in movies by singing songs composed by T. Chalapati Rao in the Tamil movie Vidhiyin Vilayattu in 1957. Subsequently, she performed in the Telugu movie MLA. Janaki went on to become one of the most favourite singers of Ilayaraja, and a phase ensued when she sang at least 2-3 songs per movie in all the four South Indian languages.
She also wrote many songs for Tamil and Telugu movies. She has sung more than 30,000 songs[Films,Non Films], in all languages in South India, as well as in Hindi, Sinhalese, Bengali, Oriya, English, Sanskrit, Konkani, Tulu, Saurashtra, Baduga, Japanese and German.
A devotee of Lord Krishna and Shirdi Sai Baba, she has also recorded Hindu devotional music on Meera.
Her contemporaries include Ghantasala, Dr.Rajkumar, P. Susheela, Vani Jayaram, K J Yesudas, L R Eeswari, P. Jayachandran, P. Leela, K. S. Chithra, Sujatha, Jency, P B Srinivas and of course S P Balasubramanyam. She is the inspiration for many upcoming female playback singers.
Personal life
S. Janaki married V.Ramprasad. She is now settled in Chennai, lives with her son Murali Krishna, who acted in few films and has an audio business of his own; and his wife Uma Murali Krishna, a classical dancer (Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi); they have two daughters Amruthavarshini and Apsara.
She is also a close relative of carnatic classical vocalist, Garimella Balakrishna Prasad.
Major awards
* In 1956, second prize in competitions held by AIR (All India Radio) from the former Indian President Dr. Rajendra Prasad at the .
* In 1986, Kalai Mamani by Government of Tamil Nadu
* In 1987, Sur singar award
* In 2002 , Cinema 'Achiever Award' by the government of Kerala
* In 2005, Special Jury Swaralaya Yesudas Award for outstanding performance in music.
* National Film Awards Four times for the best Playback singer by Government of India
* State Film awards eleven times for the best Playback singer by Government of Kerala
* State Film awards seven times for the best Playback singer by Government of Tamil Nadu
* State Film awards thirteen times for the best Playback singer by Government of Andhra Pradesh
* State Film awards four times for the best Playback singer by Government of Karnataka
* 2009, Honorary Doctorate by University of Mysore for her tremendous contribution to Kannada Film songs background singing.
Kerala State Film Awards:
* 1970 - Best Play Back Singer
* 1972 - Best Play Back Singer
* 1974 - Best Play Back Singer
* 1976 - Best Play Back Singer - Aalinganam
* 1977 - Best Play Back Singer - Madanolsavam
* 1979 - Best Play Back Singer - Thakara
* 1980 - Best Play Back Singer - Manjil Verinja pookal, Aniyatha Valakal, Chamaram
* 1981 - Best Play Back Singer - Various Films
* 1982 - Best Play Back Singer - Various Films
* 1983 - Best Play Back Singer - Various Films
* 1984 - Best Play Back Singer - Kanamarayathu
Records:
* The female singer who had won Tamil Nadu state award for the most number of times.
* The female singer who had won the Andhra Pradesh(nandi awards)state awards for the most number of times.
* The female singer to capture the national award from three south Indian languages.(Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil). No other singers exist with national awards from these three south Indian languages. That the only female singer to capture national awards from most number of South Indian languages.
National awards
* 1976, Film name: 16 vayadhinile, Language: Tamil, First line of the song: "Senthoora Poove"
* 1981, Film name: Oppol, Language: Malayalam, First line of the song: "Ettumanoorambalathil"
* 1984, Film name: Sithara, Language: Telugu, First line of the song: "Vennello godari andham"
* 1992, Film name: devar Magan, Language: Tamil, First line of song: "Inji Idippazagha"
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