Vani Jayaram is a prominent Indian female playback singer. She has recorded more than 8,000 songs in 14 different languages including Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi and Hindi. She has thrice won the National Film Awards for Best Female Playback Singer.
| Vani Jayaram | |
|---|---|
 Vani Jayaram with thambura | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Genres | playback singing |
| Occupations | Singer |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1971-current |
| Website | Official website |
Personal life and background
Vani Jayaram was born in Vellore in Tamil Nadu, in a family of musicians. Her mother is the disciple of Ranga Ramunaja Iyengar, a great veena exponent. Kadaloor Sreenivasa Iyengar, who taught Vani’s sister music, was fascinated by her observation and grasping power. He taught her a few Dikshitar kritis when she was hardly five.The fifth daughter in a family of six daughters and three sons, Vani always secretly yearned for a career in film playback singing. Considered to be a child prodigy, Vani Jayaram claims to have recognized the different ragas of Indian classical music before the age of five. Her voice was first heard on All India Radio, Madras, at the age of eight.
Vani Jayaram studied Carnatic music under the tutelage of Kadalur Srinivasa Iyengar, T. R. Balasubramanian and R. S. Mani. Her Hindustani classical music guru was Ustad Abdul Rahman Khan.
After her marriage to Jayaram she settled in Mumbai, where she realized her dream.
Career
In 1971, she realized her childhood ambition of becoming a film playback singer when Hindi film music director Vasant Desai chose her voice for the Hindi feature film Guddi. She recorded three songs for Guddi, Bol Re Papi Hara a song based on the Hindustani raga Miyan Malhar, instantly made her an household name of India. For that song she was awarded the Tansen Samman (for best classical-based song in a Hindi film), the Lions International Best Promising Singer award, the All India Cinegoers Association award, and the All India Film-goers Association award for the Best Playback Singer in 1971. She went on to sing a few songs each for music directors of Hindi cinema, including Chitragupt, Naushad (a classical song in Pakeezah and a duet with Asha Bhosle in Aaina), Madan Mohan (a duet with Kishore Kumar in the film Ek Mutthi Aasmaan), O.P. Nayyar (several songs from the film Khoon Ka Badla Khoon including duets with Mohammed Rafi and also with Uttara Kelkar and Pushpa Pagdhare), R. D. Burman (a duet with Mukesh in the film Chhalia), Kalyanji Anandji, Laxmikant Pyarelal, and Jaidev (a duet with Manna Dey in Parinay and a solo in Solwa Saawan). Her songs in the film Meera (1979), composed by Pandit Ravi Shankar (not to be confused with Meera (1945), starring M. S. Subbulakshmi), won her the Filmfare Award. Vani recorded her first Tamil song for the Tamil film Thaiyum Seiyum, for S. M. Subbaiah Naidu, in the year 1973.
Around 1974, she shifted her base to Chennai and soon became a sought-after singer in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam cinema. Besides Hindi and Tamil, Vani Jayaram has recordings in other languages of India. These include some songs in Gujarati, Marathi, Marwari, Haryanvi, Bengali and Tulu, and a huge repertoire in Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu and Oriya. For her work in some of these languages, she has been awarded many prestigious awards, among them are: Best Female Playback Singer for states of Gujarat (1975), Tamil Nadu (1980) and Orissa (1984).
One of her most famous Marathi songs, "Runanubandhachya", is a duet with the classical Hindustani singer Kumar Gandharva. This song was composed by Vani's mentor Vasant Desai for a Marathi drama called Dev Deenaghari Dhaavlaa. The song's lyrics were written by Bal Kolhatkar.
Awards
Vani Jayaram was chosen for the Indian President's National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer of 1975, for her work in M. S. Viswanathan's Apoorva Raagangal. Shankarabharanam (Telugu), the film scored by K. V. Mahadevan, gave Vani Jayaram her second National Award as Best Playback Singer of 1980. Once again, she was awarded her third National Award for Best Playback Singer of 1991 for K. V. Mahadevan's Swathi Kiranam.
Her songs in the Pandit Ravi Shankar scored film Meera brought her the Film World (1979) Cine Herald (1979) and Filmfare Award (1980) for Best Playback Singer for "Mere To Giridhar Gopal".
She was awarded Tanzen Award in 1972, which she won for "Bole Re Pappihara" (from the film Guddi), one of the most popular songs in her career.
She is also the youngest artist to be awarded the Sangeet Peet Samman.
Other titles
2004: Kamukara Award
2007: South Indian Meera
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