Ghazal King Jagjit Singh passes away

jagjit singh

Jagjit Singh born on February 8, 1941, ‘the Ghazal King’ was a singer, composer, activist and entrepreneur. He has sung in several languages including Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi and Nepali, Ghazal King was suffering from brain haemorrhage, passed away on Monday October 10, 2010 at Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital.

Jagjit Singh was born in Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan. He had four sisters and two brothers and he is known as Jeet by his family. Popularly known as “The Ghazal King”, he gained acclaim together with his wife in the 1970s and 1980s, as the first ever successful duo act (husband-wife) in the history of recorded Indian music.

jagjit singh

Recipient of Padma Bhushan award, Jagjit Singh songs such as ‘Kaagaz ki kashti’, ‘Chaak jigar ke’, ‘Kal chadhanvi ki raat thi’, and ‘Shaam se aankh me name si hai’. He mixed the words of legends like Ghalib, Qateel Shifai, Firaq Gorakhpuri, Nida Fazli and Sudarshan Faakir with melodious indigenous tunes and achieved a state where nothing came in between him and his listeners.

Later when television started showcasing music videos, he was among one of the prominent members of the music fraternity to avail the facility. He again came up with brilliant albums such as ‘Face to Face’, ‘Marasim’, ‘Aaeena’, and ‘Dil Kahin Hosh Kahin’.

 

Jagjit Singh had also given his voice for ex-prime minister Atal Bihari Bajpayee poems in the albums ‘Nayi Disha’ and ‘Samvedna’. Jagjit Singh is survived by his wife Chitra Singh, with whom he had produced several record breaking albums. Their only son Vivek Singh had died in a road accident in 1990