Sonu Nigam

Sonu Nigam (born 30 July 1973)is an Indian playback singer, live performer, composer, host, and actor. He sings predominantly in Hindi and Kannada language films. He has also sung in English, Bengali, Manipuri, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Tulu, Assamese, Odia, Nepali, Maithili, Malayalam and various Indian languages. Nigam has also released Indian pop albums and acted in a number of Hindi films.He has been one of the highest paid Indian singers. He is often regarded as a "Modern Rafi" and is now considered as one of the most versatile and greatest singers of the Hindi film industry of all time. He is also regarded as the "Lord of Chords".

Life and background

Sonu Nigam with wife Madhurima Nigam at Rakesh Roshan's birthday, 2017Sonu Nigam was born on 30 July 1973 to Agam Kumar Nigam and Shobha Nigam, in the city of Faridabad, Haryana. His father was from Agra and his mother was from Garhwal. His sister Teesha Nigam is also a professional singer.Nigam began his singing career at the age of four, when he joined his father Agam Kumar Nigam on stage to sing Mohammed Rafi's song "Kya Hua Tera Wada".Nigam began accompanying his father on his singing appearances at weddings and parties.

Singing

He has recorded Romantic, Rock, Sad, Devotional, Ghazal and Patriotic songs. He has sung in: Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Chhattisgarhi, English, Gujarati, Kannada, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Tulu and Urdu till date.Nigam has released pop albums in Hindi, Kannada, Odia, Chhattisgarhi and Punjabi, as well as Hindu and Islamic devotional albums. He has released several Buddhist albums. Nigam has performed in countries in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia. In May–June 2007, he participated in The Incredibles tour with Asha Bhosle, Kunal Ganjawala, and Kailash Kher. In September–October of the same year, he gave solo concerts titled Simply Sonu in Canada and Germany, the first Indian singer to do so.In April 2008, he toured India promoting his Punjabi single "Punjabi Please".Nigam's first film song as a playback singer was for Janam (1990), which was never officially released. He then began making radio commercials and also acted in some of them.His first released song was "O Aasman Wale" from the movie Aaja Meri Jaan (1992). Sonu had also sung the title track of Aaja Meri Jaan, but it was dubbed by SP Balasubramaniam. He released his first album "Rafi Ki Yaadein" in 1992. After this, he sung in some movies, including Muqabla (1993), Meherban (1993), Shabnam (1993), Kasam Teri Kasam (1993), Aag (1994), Khuddar (1994), Hulchul (1994), Stuntman (1994), Ramjaane (1995), Gaddaar (1995), Jeet (1996) etc. Sonu Nigam was supposed to playback the song "Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh" from 1942: A Love Story and Sonu was the first choice of R.D. Burman for this song, but the song was eventually recorded by Kumar Sanu. He began hosting the TV show, Sa Re Ga Ma in 1995 and sang "Accha Sila Diya" for the film Bewafa Sanam and achieved great success because of it.

Work in Kannada

Nigam performing at the live concert in 2014Nigam's first song in Kannada was in 1996 for the film Jeevanadhi. The song "Yello Yaro Hego" was composed by Saluri Koteswara Rao with lyrics by R. N. Jayagopal. Nigam has since sung over 600 Kannada songs.He is known as the Golden Singer Of Karnataka.His songs include "Cheluve Yeke Bande", from the film Majnu, composed by Gurukiran; "Titanic Heroine Nee Nanna Cheluve", from the film Snehaloka; the title track from the film Monalisa composed by Valisha Sandeep"Hamsave Hamsave" from the film Gatti Mela, composed by Hamsalekha, "Kannale Kannale" from the film Aham Premasmi, composed by V.Ravichandran and "Baaninda Baa Chandira, from the movie Kanti, composed by Gurukiran.

Film and voice-over acting

Nigam's acting career started as a child in films including Betaab (1983). As an adult, he acted in films such as Jaani Dushman: Ek Anokhi Kahani, Kash Aap Hamare Hote and Love in Nepal. He has been signed to be in Ankhon Ankhon Mein, about a blind singer. Nigam provided the voice for the lead character, in the Hindi dubbed version of Aladdin.