THE MELODY QUEEN....KAVITA KRISHNAMURTHY

Kavita Subramaniam née Krishnamurthy was born (Sharada Krishnamurthy) on 25 January 1958 in the capital of India, New Delhi,  in a Tamil Iyer family. Her father was an official with the Education Ministry.

She began her music training with her aunt, Mrs. Bhattacharya, who taught her Rabindra Sangeet. She began her formal training in Hindustani classical music under Balram Puri, a classical singer. At the young age of eight, Kavita won a gold medal at a music competition. Subsequently, she kept winning many such gold medals as she kept participating in the Inter-Ministry Classical Competition in New Delhi in the mid-1960s.

At the young age of nine, she got an opportunity to record a Tagore song in Bengali with the legendary Lata Mangeshkar under the auspices of the music composer Hemant Kumar. Although the young Kavita was aspiring to be working with the Indian Foreign Services, Kavita moved to Bombay when she was 14 to try her luck as a playback singer in the Hindi film industry. After she completed her school education, she is an alumnus of the St. Xaviers' College, Bombay from where she acquired her Ph.D. in Economics. She was also very active in the St. Xaviers' Music Group in her college days. During the annual college festival (Malhar), she bumped into Ranu Mukherjee, the daughter of Hemant Kumar. Ranu took the initiative of reintroducing Kavita to her father. He was highly impressed by her skills, so he began her talent as a singer during his live performances. In one such performance, Manna Dey spotted her talent and employed her to sing advertisement jingles. Through her aunt's strong contacts, she met Mrs. Jaya Chakravarthy, the mother of actress Hema Malini who later took the initiative of introducing to Kavita to the music director Laxmikant (of the Laxmikant-Pyarelal fame) in late 1976.

Laxmikant gave her an option to work as a dubbing artiste or a career in playback singing later. Kavita chose the former and impressed Laxmikant with her strong grounding in Indian classical music and her soulful timbre. Initially, she used to record songs and cut demos of songs intended for singers like Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle. In her struggle phase, Laxmikant-Pyarelal backed her so strongly that she was labelled as a "LP-campwalli" which gave many music directors an excuse to avoid working with her. She sang the song "Kaahe Ko Byaahi" in the film Maang Bharo Sajna in 1980 which featured in her own voice. Unfortunately, the song was dropped from the final cut.

In 1980, she first sang the song, "Kaahe Ko Byaahi" in the film Maang Bharo Sajana, which featured her singing in her own voice. Unfortunately, the song was dropped from the final cut of the film.In 1985, her career took off with her first major hit, "Tumse Milkar Na Jaane Kyon". Post the success of the song, it opened up various opportunities beyond the Laxmikant-Pyarelal camp. "Hawa Hawaii" and "Karte Hain Hum Pyaar Mr. India Se", two popular songs from the highly popular movie Mr. India (1987) proved a turning point for her. (The song was composed by music directors Laxmikant-Pyarelal and lip-synced on screen by actress Sridevi). The collaboration of Kavita and Laxmikant-Pyarelal produced many hits.

The 1990s thrust Kavita to being known as one of the leading female playback singers. Her performance as a singer in the film 1942: A Love Story, composed by R.D. Burman won her a lot of popular acclaim. With a string of hits from 1942: A Love Story, Yaraana, Agni Sakshi, Bhairavi, and Khamoshi, Kavita established herself as a leading female singer in the mid-1990s. She went on to work with several music directors of Hindi films of the 1990s, such as Bappi Lahiri, Anand-Milind, A. R. Rahman, Ismail Darbar, Nadeem-Shravan, Jatin Lalit, Viju Shah and Anu Malik. During her stint as a playback singer, she sang duets with the leading male singers of her times, from Kishore Kumar and Suresh Wadkar to Mohammed Aziz, Amit Kumar, Manhar Udhas, Kumar Sanu, Abhijeet Bhattacharya, Udit Narayan and Sonu Nigam. Her female duets mostly have been with Alka Yagnik, Anuradha Paudwal and Sadhana Sargam.

After her marriage to violinist Dr. L. Subramaniam in Bangalore on 11 November 1999, Kavita got extremely selective and cut down on her film singing. She started expanding her artistic range to areas which were never explored. She was the main featured soloist in the Global Fusion album released by Warner Bros., featuring musicians from five continents. As she actively started exploring fusion music, Kavita travelled around the world including to the US, UK, Europe, Africa, Australia, the Far East, the Middle East, and South America. She performed in concert halls including Royal Albert Hall in London, The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.., Madison Square Garden, The Lincoln Center in New York City, the Zhongshan Music Hall in Beijing, The Esplanade in Singapore, The Putra Jaya World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur, and Gewandhaus Leipzigm.

Although primarily a playback singer, Kavita has sung with orchestras as a soloist; she collaborated with Western artists from jazz, pop and classical fields. She has lent her voice for many ghazal and devotional music albums. Both as a fusion music singer and as a playback singer, Kavita has performed throughout India.

Their son Ambi and daughter Bindu well trained in Indian Music as well as in Western Music; gives performances in India and World over.

Awards Won

Kavita Krishnamurty has received several awards and honours. She was the recipient of three consecutive Filmfare awards from 1995–1997.

Civilian Awards:

·         2005 – Padma Shri – India's fourth highest civilian honours

Filmfare Awards

·         2003 – Best Female Playback Singer (shared with Shreya Ghoshal) – Dola Re Dola (Devdas)

·         1997 – Best Female Playback Singer – Aaj Main Upar (Khamoshi: The Musical)

·         1996 – Best Female Playback Singer – Mera Piya Ghar Aaya (Yaraana)

·         1995 – Best Female Playback Singer – Pyaar Hua Chupke Se (1942: A Love Story)

Star Screen Awards

·         1997 – Best Female Playback Singer – Aaj Main Upar (Khamoshi: The Musical)

·         2000 – Best Female Playback Singer – Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam)

Zee Cine Awards

·         2003 – Best Female Playback Singer (shared with Shreya Ghoshal) – Dola Re (Devdas)

·         2000 – Best Female Playback Singer – Nimbooda (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam)

IIFA Awards

·         2003 – Best Female Playback Singer (shared with Shreya Ghoshal) – Dola Re (Devdas)

Other Awards

·         Yesudas Award (2008) by Swaralaya, for exceptional contribution to Indian music.

·         Kishore Kumar Journalists'/Critics' Award in Calcutta (2002)

·         Bollywood Award, held in New York (2000)

·         Shri Ravindra Jain Sangeet Samman (2012)