Like Mukesh was the soul of Raj Kapoor, Mahendra Kapoor was Manoj 'Bharat' Kumar's voice; he sang a host of hits for the actor from Mere desh ki dharti (Upkar ) to Aur nahin bas aur nahin from Roti Kapda Aur Makaan.
He was among the handful of singers dominating the golden age of Hindi film music.Among his popular songs are Tere pyaar ka aasra chaahta hoon (Dhool Ka Phool), Neele gagan ke tale (Hamraaz) and Chalo Ek Baar Phir Se(Gumrah).
Born on 9 January 1934 started learning classical music under classical singers like Pt. Hussanlal, Pt. Jagannath Bua, Ustad Niaz Ahmed Khan, Ustad Abdul Rehman Khan and Pt.Tulsidaas Sharma. Got his debut as a playback singer in V. Shantaram's Navrang in 1958, singing Aadha Hai Chandrama Raat Aadhi, under the musical direction of C. Ramchandra.
It was the song Chalo ek baar phir se ajnabee ban jaaye from B R Chopra's Gumrah that set him on the path to fame. Subsequently, Kapoor sang his best songs for B R Films and the latter's favorite music director Ravi.
He remained as one of the most popular singer in the Bollywood who has given his voice to almost all of the popular heroes like Dilip Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Shahsi Kapoor, Biswajeet, Raj Kumar, Dharmendra, Amitabh Bahchcan, Manoj Kumar, Vinod Khanna, Shatrughina Sinha and many more. For Punjabi movies he has given his voice to Varendra, Mehar Mittal, Prem Nath and many more.
Kapoor sung in a large number of Indian languages, and is the playback singer who has performed in the largest number of in Gujarati, Punjabi, Bhojpuri and Marathi movies.[3] He also performed the title song for the TV series Mahabharat. In Marathi he was very popular for being the voice of Dada Kondke in all his movies.
Kapoor had a very large vocal range, and he is sometimes known as The Vibrant Voice of India.[citation needed] He was the first Indian playback singer to record music in English[citation needed]. He was asked by the group Boney M to sing their songs in Hindi with Musarat from Pakistan, which resulted in the Pop Album M-3. Some of the songs on the album are "Chori Chori Chalo!!"(Original, Hoorray! Hoorray! by Boney M), "O Meri Champe Ki Daali"
He died On 27 September 2008 due to cardiac arrest.He was awarded Dada Saheb Phalke Award the same year.
Song from Dhool Ka Phool 1959
Song from Gumrah 1963
Song from Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi 1966
Song from Upkar 1967
Song from Hamraaz (1967)
Song from Kismat (1968)
Song from AAYE DIN BAHAAR KE(1966)
Song from Yaadgar (1970)
Song from Gopi (1970)
Song from Fakira (1975)