Chithra – More than 25 000 songs in 26 languages

Chithra, born on 27 July 1963, has recorded more than 25 000 songs in 26 languages in a career spanning 46 years.

She is the first Indian woman by the British Parliament at the House of Commons in 2003. She is also the first Indian woman to be honoured by the Government of China in 2009. She has won 6 national awards, 10 Filmfare Awards and 43 state awards from 8 different states. She has also been conferred with the Padma Shri (2005) and Padmavibhushan (2021) awards by the Government of India.

Chithra has had a rich and textured discography with some of India’s best known composers across many states and languages. She shares a close relationship with Illaiyaraja and K.J. Yesudas and had a particularly close relationship with the Late S.P. Balasubramaniam.

Chithra made her debut to Tamil playback singing in 1985 with Poove Poochooda Vaa under Illaiyaraja’s music. This was six years after her debut to Malayalam.

She found wide recognition and national fame for her songs Naan oru Sindhu and Padariyaen Padipariyaen from Sindhu Bhairavi which won her the national award. She chose to forego her Masters examination to record the song and is a decision she did not regret.

In the years that followed, she sang a variety of styles in various languages, proving her versatility and amazing ability to adapt. She has become the darling of the masses in several states and her continuing popularity is evident in the attendance at her concerts across the world.

She is married to engineer and businessman Vijayashankar. They had a daughter who was born with Down Syndrome but she drowned in 2011 at a hotel pool in Dubai where Chithra had gone to perform at an A.R. Rahman concert. It is something that Chithra has never recovered from.

Chithra is a firm favourite with television audiences, seen frequently as the judge of talent searches in various languages across various networks.