India’s legendary playback singer Manna Dey is no more. Mannada to millions of his fans, Dey was born Prabodh Chandra Dey and sang over 4,000 songs in several languages, including Kannada, in a career spanning over seven decades. He partnered with Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle for several hit duets. He also formed successful pairings with actors Raj Kapoor and Rajesh Khanna, and composers Salil Chowdhury, Hemant Kumar and Laxmikant-Pyarelal.

Recipient of the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awards, Manna Dey was also honored with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2007.

Manna Dey took his first formal music lessons from his uncle Krishna Chandra Dey, who was a music director and composer, and began his Bollywood career as his uncle’s assistant in 1942.

He worked independently as a music director for various Hindi movies before making his singing debut with the movie Tamanna in 1943. His very first mentors were Ustad Aman Ali Khan and Ustad Abdul Rahman Khan from whom he took lessons in Hindustani classical music.

Manna Dey ruled the playback music scene from the 1950s to the 1970s. He continued to sing at concerts and in Bengali cinema long after he had retired from Bollywood. — Rajesh Kumar, Jeddah