Jagjit Singh (Punjabi: , Hindi:

, Urdu: ;) born Jagmohan Singh; (8 February 1941 10 October 2011) was a prominent Indian Ghazal singer, composer, music director, activist and entrepreneur.[2] Known as "The Ghazal King", he gained acclaim together with his wife, another renowned Indian Ghazal singer Chitra Singh[3] in 1970's and 80's as the first successful husband-wife duo act in the history of recorded Indian music.[4] Together, they are considered to be the pioneers of modern Ghazal singing and regarded as most successful recording artistes outside the realm of Indian film music. Their combination album onHMV comprising music from films, Arth (Meaning, 1982) and Saath Saath (Together, Along, 1982), is India's largest selling combination album of all time. [5] Sajda (An Offering, 1991), Jagjit Singh's magnum opus double album with Lata Mangeshkar holds the same record in non-film category.[citation needed] He had sung in Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Sindhi andNep ali languages. He was awarded India's third highest civilian honour, the Padma Bhushan, in 2003 for his contribution to the fields of music and culture.

Singh is credited for the revival and popularity of ghazal, an Indian classical art form, by choosing poetry that was relevant to the masses and composing them in a way that laid more emphasis on the meaning of words and melody evoked by them. In terms of Indian Classical music, his style of composing and Gayaki (singing) is considered as Bol-pradhan, one that lays emphasis on words. He highlighted this in his music for films such as Prem Geet (1981), Arth and Saath Saath (1982), and TV serials Mirza Ghalib (1988) and Kahkashan (1991). Jagjit Singh is considered to be the most successful ghazal singer and composer of all time in terms of both critical acclaim and commercial success. With a career spanning over five decades and a repertoire comprising over 80 albums, the range and breadth of his work has been regarded as genre-defining. He is the only composer and singer to have composed and recorded songs written by Prime Minister - Atal Behari Vajpayee also a critically acclaimed poet - in two albums, Nayi Disha (1999) and Samvedna (2002). Jagjit Singh was the first Indian composer, and together with his wife Chitra Singh the first recording artist in the history of Indian music to use digital multi-track

recording for their (India's first digitally recorded) album, Beyond Time (1987).[6] He was regarded as one of India's most influential artistes. Together with sitar legend Ravi Shankar and other leading figures of Indian classical music and literature, Singh voiced his concerns over politicisation of arts and culture in India and lack of support experienced by the practitioners of India's traditional art forms, particularly folk artists and musicians. He also lent active support to several philanthropic endeavors such as the library at St. Mary's School, Mumbai, Bombay Hospital, CRY, Save the Children and ALMA.

Early life and career

Jagjit Singh was born in Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan[7] to Amar Singh Dhiman, a government employee, a native of Dalla village in Punjab and his mother, Bachan Kaur from Ottallan village, Samrala in a house that was known as Pat Ram Ki Chhikari (cluster of six houses). He had

four sisters and two brothers and he was known as Jeet by his family. He was raised as a Sikh by religion. He went to Khalsa High School in Sri Ganganagar and then studied science after matriculation at Government College Sri Ganganagar and went onto graduate in Arts at DAV College, Jalandhar. He is a post-graduate in history from Kurukshetra University in Haryana. Jagjit was initially named Jagmohan Singh. He went to meet his sister at Sahwa in Churu district where a saint of the Namdhari sect, on hearing him sing hymns, suggested to his brother-in-law Ratan Singh that he be renamed as Jagjit Singh as he had the ability to win over the world with his golden voice.[citation needed] His association with music goes back to his childhood. He learnt music under Pandit Chagganlal Sharma, for two years in Ganganagar, and later devoted six years to learning Khayal, Thumri and Dhrupad forms of Indian Classical Music from Ustad Jamaal Khan of the SainiaGharana school, belonging to the descendents of Tansen, the great 16th century musician from the court of the Moghul Emperor, Akbar. The Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University and Kurukshetra University, Late Professor

Suraj Bhan encouraged his interest in music. He arrived in Mumbai in 1961 in search of better opportunities for being a musician and singer. His early struggle in the music industry, though not too harsh by his own account, still had its share of trials and tribulations. He lived as a paying guest and his earlier assignments were singing advertisement jingles. Singh was first offered to sing in a Gujarati film, Dharati Na Chhoru produced by Suresh Amin.