Vani Jairam, one of India’s most versatile voices, no more

File picture of playback singer Vani Jairam
| Photo Credit: Vipin Chandran

Veteran Playback singer Vani Jairam, who has sung over 10,000 songs across several Indian languages, died in the city on February 4. She was 77 years old.

In a career spanning over five decades, the renowned singer had lent her voice to several songs across languages including Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Assamese, and Bengali. Armed with a voice that lent itself effortlessly to any rasa, she delighted audiences across the country.

Born on November 30, 1945, as Kalaivani, Vani Jairam’s big break came with the Hindi film ‘Guddi’ in 1971, where she sang for composer Vasant Desai, and is remembered for her mellifluous ‘Hum ko mann ki shakthi dena.’ She worked with many legendary composers, including M.S. Vishwanathan, K.V. Mahadevan, Chakravarthy, Ilaiyaraaja, and Sathyam, among others, spanning several film industries.

The Government of India, last month, announced that Jairam, who completed 50 years as a playback singer in 2021, would receive the Padma Bhushan award, the third-highest civilian award, for her contribution to music.

In a short interview to The Hindu following the announcement of the Padma awards, Ms. Jairam said that she was very thankful for the support of her fans who had been listening to her songs for the last 52 years.