Kavita Krishnamurthy
கவிதா கிருஷ்ணமூர்த்தி |
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Kavita Subramaniam, 2008
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| Background information |
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| Birth name | Sharada Krishnamurthy |
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| Also known as | Kavita Krishnamoorthy, Kavita Krishnamurti |
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| Origin | Delhi, India |
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| Genres | Playback singing, fusion, pop |
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| Occupation(s) | Playback singer, fusion artiste |
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| Years active | 1980–present |
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Early life[edit]
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.
Performing career[edit]
At the age of nine, she got an opportunity to record a Tagore song in Bengali with
Lata Mangeshkar under the auspices of the music composer and singer
Hemant Kumar. Although the young Sharada was aspiring to be working with Indian Foreign Services, Kavita moved to Bombay when she was just 14 to try her luck as a playback singer in the Hindi film industry. She is an alumnus of
St. Xaviers' College, Bombay from where she did her BA Honors Economics. She was also very active in the St. Xaviers' Music Group during her college days. During the annual college festival (Malhar), she accidentally met Ranu Mukherjee, the daughter of
Hemant Kumar. Ranu took the initiative of reintroducing Kavita to her father.
[5] He was impressed by her grounding in music, so he began using her as a singer during his live performances. In one such performance, playback singer
Manna Dey spotted her and employed her to sing advertisement
jingles. Through her aunt's strong contacts, she met Jaya Chakravarthy, the mother of actress
Hema Malini,
[5] who later took the initiative of introducing Kavita to the music director Laxmikant (one of the composer duo
Laxmikant-Pyarelal) in late 1976.
Playback singing[edit]
Laxmikant gave her an option to work as a dubbing artiste or a career in playback singing later. Kavita chose the latter and impressed Laxmikant with her extremely strong grasp of Hindustani classical music. Initially, she used to record songs and cut demos of songs intended for singers like
Lata Mangeshkar and
Asha Bhosle. In her struggling phase, she received the patronage of music composers Laxmikant—Pyarelal, who backed her so strongly that she was labelled as a singer exclusively working with them which gave many music directors an excuse to avoid working with her.
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" from the Hindi film
Pyaar Jhukta Nahin. Post the success of the song, it opened up various opportunities beyond the Laxmikant-Pyarelal camp. However, "Hawa Hawaii" and "Karte Hain Hum Pyaar Mr. India Se", two popular songs from the equally popular movie
Mr. India (1987), proved to be a turning point in her career. (The songs were composed by music composers Laxmikant-Pyarelal, the latter being a duet with
Kishore Kumar and lip-synced on screen by actress
Sridevi). Her collaboration with Laxmikant-Pyarelal produced several 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
Pop and devotional singing[edit]
Due to her participation in fusion and pop music, Kavita has lent her voice for several pop and devotional albums. The most prominent ones being:
- Aadi Ganesh
- Venkatesha Suprabhatam
- Shiva Shlokas
- Koi Akela Kahan
- Meera Ka Ram
- Mahalakshmi Stotram
- Pop Time
- Sai Ka Vardaan
- Shagufthagi
- Dil Ki Awaaz
- Athens
- Asmita
- Mahiya
- Hadh Kar Di Aapne
Personal life[edit]
Kavita Krishnamurthy married violinist
Dr. L. Subramaniam in
Bangalore on 11 November 1999. They have no children. Subramaniam has three children from his previous marriage.
Bindu Subramaniam is a law graduate and singer/songwriter.
[6] Narayana, the middle one, is a qualified doctor. The youngest,
Ambi Subramaniam, is an accomplished violinist.
[7]
Bollywood songs[edit]
Awards Won[edit]
Kavita Krishnamurty has received several awards and honours. She was the recipient of three consecutive
Filmfare awardsfrom 1995–1997.
Civilian Awards:
- 2005 – Padma Shri – India's fourth highest civilian honours
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)
- Lata Mangeshkar Award from the Govt. of Madhya Pradesh (2005)
References[edit]
External links[edit]
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