Asha Bhosle (born 8 September 1933) is famous Playback Singer.Probably the second most well known female playback singer in India today. She is second only to her sister, Lata Mangeshkar. She has been singing professionally for more than 60 years, having sung for more than 950 Bollywood films.

Child Asha Bhosle and family

Asha Bhosle was born in the small hamlet of Goa in Sangli, then in the salute princely state of Sangli. (now in Maharashtra), into the musical family of Master Deenanath Mangeshkar, who belongs to Marathi-speaking Gomantak Maratha Samaj. Her father was a theater actor and classical singer. When she was nine years old, her father died. The family moved from Pune to Kolhapur and then to Mumbai. She and her elder sister Lata Mangeshkar began singing and acting in films to support their family. She sang her first film song '"Chala Chala Nav Bala" for the Marathi film Majha Bal (1943)
She made her Hindi film debut when she sang the song "Saawan Aaya" for Hansraj Behl's Chunariya (1948).^[14] Her first solo Hindi film song was for the movie Raat Ki Raani (1949).
Asha was one of several children. She had a brother named Hridayanath Mangeshkar, as well as three sisters named Lata, Usha, and Meena. Of these Lata Mangeshkar would grow up to be a legendary figure in the world of film music, and Asha's professional rival.

song from sangdil

When she was only 16 years old, she fell in love with 31 year old Ganpatrao Bhosle; he was Lata's personal secretary. Asha was resolute in her desire to marry him, and much against the wishes of her family, she eloped with him. However her married life to Mr. Bhosle was short lived; after a few years with him, she returned to her mother's house with her two children and pregnant with her third She got separated in 1960,her singing career couldn't be established till then because In the early 1960s, prominent playback singers like Geeta Dutt, Shamshad Begum, and Lata Mangeshkar dominated the singing for the female lead and the big films. Asha used to get the assignments they refused: singing for the bad girls and vamps, or songs in the second-grade movies. In the 1950s, she sang more songs than most playback singers in Bollywood (not counting Lata). Most of these were in low budget B or C-grade films. Her earliest songs were composed by A R Qureshi, Sajjad Hussain, and Ghulam Mohammed, and most of these songs failed to do well. Singing in Sangdil (1952), composed by Sajjad Hussain, she got reasonable recognition.

Consequently, film director Bimal Roy gave her a chance to sing in Parineeta (1953). Raj Kapoor signed her to sing "Nanhe Munne Bachche" with Mohammed Rafi in Boot Polish (1954), which gained popularity.

O P Nayyar was the music director who gave Asha many songs O. P. Nayyar gave Asha a break in C.I.D. (1956). She first achieved success in B. R. Chopra's Naya Daur (1957), composed by him. Her duets with Rafi like "Maang Ke Saath Tumhara", "Saathi Haath Badhana" and "Uden Jab Jab Zulfein Teri", penned by Sahir Ludhianvi, earned her recognition. It was the first time she sang all the songs for a film's leading actress. B R Chopra was so delighted by her voice that he gave her songs in several of his later productions, including Gumrah (1963), Waqt (1965), Hamraaz (1965), Aadmi Aur Insaan (1966) and Dhund(1973).

Nayyar's future collaboration with Bhosle also resulted in success. Gradually, she established her status and received the patronage of such composers as Sachin Dev Burman and Ravi. Bhosle and Nayyar had a professional and personal parting of ways in the 1970s.

Her career took a new heights when she was taken by R D Burman for singing Aaja Aaja for Teesri Manzil.Later on Asha's collaboration with Burman resulted in numerous hits and a marriage.They were married1980; the remained married un till his death in 1994.

In the 1970s, Asha and Pancham's youthful Western songs took Bollywood music by storm – the raunchy cabaret "Piya Tu Ab To Aaja" (Caravan, picturized on Helen), the rebellious "Dum Maro Dum" (Hare Rama Hare Krishna, 1971), the sexy "Duniya Mein" (Apna Desh, 1972) and the romantic "Chura Liyaa Hai Tumne" (Yaadon Ki Baaraat, 1973). Pancham also recorded many hit duets with Asha and Kishore Kumar such as "Jaane Jaan" (Jawani Diwani) and "Bhali Bhali Si Ek Soorat" (Buddha Mil Gaya).She was singing many songs for Helen ,her combination may have been commercially very successful, but it was not to last forever. There were probably several reason why this came to an end. Helen's cabaret numbers started to decline in the in the 80's. Furthermore Asha seems to have been uncomfortable being typecast for a single type of song; she wanted to expand her repertoire to show her versatility.

This was demonstrated by her embracing the gazal style in films such as "Umrao Jaan" (1981) and "Ijazat" (1987). and "Katra Katra".The ghazals won her the first National Film Award of her career. A few years later, she won another National Award for the song "Mera Kuchh Saamaan" fromIjaazat (1987).

Dil Cheej Hai Kya from Umrao Jaan

Mera Kuchh Samaan

First duet of Asha with Lata from Daman 1951

Mere Mehboob Mein Kya Nahi from Mere Mehboob

Asha and Lata have also sung together. Their first duet was for the film Daman (1951).Some of their songs include Man Bhawan Ke Ghar aye (Chori Chori, 1956), Sakhi ri sun bole papihaa us paar (Miss Mary, 1957), O chaand jahaan woh jaaye (Sharada, 1957), Mere Mehboob Mein Kya Nahi (Mere Mehboob, 1963), Ai kash kisi deewane ko(Aaye Din Bahar Ke, 1966), Jabse Laagi Toose Najariya (Shikar, 1968), Main Haseena Nazneena Koi Mujhsa Nahi (Baazi, 1968), Main Chali Main Chali (Padosan, 1968),Chhap tilak sab (Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki, 1978), and Man kyun behka (Utsav, 1984)

Man kyun behka from Utsav

By the late 80s and early 90s with the emergence of new singers like Alka Yagnik ,Sadhna Sargam she was not getting sufficient no of songs but suddenly the songs from Rangeela (1995) made the young generation by surprised.Songs like "Tanha Tanha" and "Rangeela Re" were chartbusters.Later on she along with A R Rehman went on to record more hits like "Mujhe Rang De" (Thakshak), "Radha Kaise Na Jale" (Lagaan, duet with Udit Narayan), "Kahin Aag Lage" (Taal), "O Bhanware" (Daud, duet with K. J. Yesudas), "Venilla Venilla" (Iruvar,1999) and "Dhuan Dhuan" (Meenaxi,2004).

Danny and Asha Bhosle Very old Nepali song

Apart from Hindi, she has sung in over 20 Indian and foreign languages.In 2006, Asha Bhosle stated that she had sung over 12,000 songs, a figure repeated by several other sources.In 2011, she was officially acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most recorded artist in music history.The Government of India honoured her with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2000 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2008. In 2013, she made her debut as an actress in the film Mai, and received critical acclaim for her performance.

Song from the Album Rahul And I

In 1990s, Asha experimented with remixed R.D. Burman songs. She was criticized by many, including Khayyam for tampering with old melodies. Nevertheless, albums like Rahul And I became quite popular. In 1997, Asha did a private Indipop album Janam Samjha Karo with Lesle Lewis. The album was hugely popular and won her many awards including the 1997 MTV Award.

Asha sings with Boy George

In the mid-1980s, Asha sang with Boy George ("Bow down mister") and Stephen Lauscombe. In 1997, she sang a love song with the boy band Code Red, at the age of 64. She also recorded the song "The Way you Dream" (One Giant Leap) with Michael Stipe that was used in the English movie, Bulletproof Monk. The song was also released on the album 1 Giant Leap for 2002.British alternative rock band Cornershop released "Brimful of Asha" in 1997. The song dedicated to Asha Bhosle became an international hit single for the band and topping the UK Singles Chart in February 1998. A number of remixes have been released as well notably by Norman Cook also known as Fatboy Slim.

Asha Bhosle has won seven Filmfare Best Female Playback Awards of 18 nominations.She won her first two awards in 1967 and 1968.
Some of Asha Bhonsle's RARE & UNRELEASED Songs