Forgotten or less known singers - part 2

Bhupinder Singh

Starting as Panchamda’s (RDB) guitarist, Bhupinder ended up as a reputed Ghazal singer after a foray into movie music. And the few songs he sang with his deep sonorous voice are still remembered by all. But like they mutter, his voice was never meant for the chocolate-faced teen heroes….

Well Bhupinder sang some melodious songs like in Mausam ‘Dil doondtha hai’, Gharaonda ‘Ek Akele is sheher mein’ and Naam Ghoom jayega from Kinara…each a masterpiece..amongst a few others

His passion was ghazals and he did them so well together with his wife Mitalee singh (they met on-stage!!). I remember one of his Ghazals ‘Ahat se koi aye to lagata hein’…wonderful, mellifluous, soothing…...

Naushad once said that nobody does better than Bhupinder on a guitar…well that sure is some compliment!! Here is a very comprehensive article on him.


Hemalata

She came into the limelight together with Yesudas, the movie being Chitchor. ‘Tujo mere sur mein’ was a superb duet…Akhiyon ke jarokhon mein was one of her great solos. Today, she does stage shows and plans to come out soon with a new Geet Album soon with Ataullah Khan. Looking back, only Rajashri films and Ravinder Jain got the best out of her.

One article says - The title song of “Ankhiyon Ke Jharokon Se” is her masterpiece. While Ravindra Jain and Hemlata have worked on many other exceptional songs, this is easily their best one together. This was hailed as the most popular song of 1978 by ‘Binaca Geetmala’ (a radio show that used to compile records of album sales).

But well, did you know that she has sung over 5000 songs in 38 languages. She was planning on doing a Punjabi English pop album!! and that she was introduced by Usha Khanna?

Nazia Hassan

She entered the music scene with a bang. While many were listening to disco from Saturday night fever (the famous Beegees songs) and Boney M and the such, Nazia and Zoheb brought a new sound to the Hindi pop scene with the Disco Deewane tape. It soon became a rage and Nazia’s good looks helped, also the fact that the music was by a Brit of Indian Coorgi origin – Biddu. She followed with a couple more of disco records, a few songs here and there in movies (Star was a movie where they had some songs) – but nothing to beat her first song - Aap jaisa koi meri zindagi me aye from Qurbani. She moved back to the Pakistani music world…Soon she was lost to the Indian music scene. She married, became a mother, divorced and got involved in a number of charitable causes. Then came news that she was suffering from cancer and well, she passed away recently, leaving only some sonorous musical memories….

The linked article has Raju Bharatan stating a lot of very interesting stories!!! It says….
AND the unvarnished truth is that Nazia Hasan's Aap jaisa koi meree zindagee mein aaye stayed put, in the top slot of Ameen Sayani's Binaca Geetmala, for (believe it or not) 14 weeks running! There was no way even the velvet voice of Lata could scale down Nazia during that spell. Not since Lata herself had occupied an enviable slot in the same Binaca Geetmala for one full year before the film's release, with her Mera salaam le jaa charmer from Naushad's Uran Khatola (1955), had we witnessed a Binaca phenomenon lik Nazia.

Another detailed article on her can be found here, she is well covered on the net, unlike the others.