K. S. Chithra

Some Lesser Known Facts About K. S. Chithra

• In 1978, K. S. Chithra qualified for the National Talent Search Scholarship programme, a central government programme, in which she received training for vocal classical music and was trained by Professor K. Omanakutty.

  

• During her graduation, she was one of the toppers of her university and was ranked third in her university.

• Initially, she received training from her father as he was also a musician and thereafter developed an interest in singing.

• K. S. Chithra was introduced to Malayalam playback singing in 1979 by M. G. Radhakrishnan. Soon, she signed many singing assignments for private albums and various Malayalam films such as Attahasam, Snehapoorvam Meera, and Njan Ekananu.

• She achieved a breakthrough in her career after she performed alongside K. J. Yesudas, one of the greatest singers in the history of Indian music, at a few live concerts.

• In the early 1980s, she worked with many veteran music directors such as Ravindran, Shyam, Jerry Amaldev, Kannor Rajan, and Johnson who later helped her get more singing projects.

• By the mid-1980s, Chithra had become a household name and one of the most desirable female singers in the Malayalam music industry.

• She made her debut in the Tamil music industry alongside Ilaiyaraaja and later recorded many other songs in Tamil that were composed by Ilaiyaraaja.

  

• In 1985, she recorded her first Hindi language song which was composed by S. P. Venkitesh, but it was never released.

• She holds the record for being the female singer to sing the maximum number of Tamil songs composed by A. R. Rahman.

• K. S. Chithra’s first original Telugu song was ‘Abba Daanisoku’ from the film Aakhari Poratam (1988).

• In 1989, she gained popularity amongst the Telugu-speaking people after the release of the song Jallanta Kavvinta from the movie Geethanjali.

• In 1993, she recorded her first album, ‘Ragga Raaga,’ which featured Voodoo Rapper.

• K. S. Chithra has featured alongside Lata Mangeshkar, Pankaj Udhas, Ghulam Ali, and Asha Bhosle in various ghazal albums.

  

• In 2000, she signed a contract with Sony Music as one of their exclusive artists.

• As an exclusive artist for Sony Music, she released two superhit pop albums titled Piya Basanti, and Sunset Point.

• She became widely known after the release of the album ‘Piya Basanti’ and came to be known as ‘Piya Basanti Chitra’ in the northern region of India. For the Piya Basanti album, she worked alongside Ustad Sultan Khan.

• She has performed at various live concerts alongside singers such as S. P. B. Charan, S. P. Sailaja, Sunitha Upadrashta Karthik, and Shweta Mohan.

  

• In 2006, she dedicated an album named ‘My Tribute’ to M. S. Subbulakshmi, the first musician to be awarded Bharat Ratna. The album contains a collection of songs dedicated to Subbulakshmi.

• In 2009, she performed a rendition of ‘Tunga Tarange Gange’ at the Qinghai International Musical Journey on Water and Life concert.

• In 2009, she dedicated an album named ‘Nightingale: A Salute to Lataji’ as a tribute to Lata Mangeshkar on her 80th birthday.

• Her song Chinna Kuyil Paadum from the film Poove Poochudava, which was released in 1985, earned her the title of ‘chinnakuyil’ (Little Nightingale of South India).

• In an interview, she mentioned that she aimed to become a music teacher, but she eventually became a playback singer.

• The first ever song she recorded was a riddle song, which was recorded at a studio in Thiruvananthapuram.

  

• She has sung over 25000 songs in various Indian languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi, Oriya, Bengali, Bhaduga, and Punjabi. She has also sung in various other languages such as Latin, Arabic, Sinhalese, English, and French.

• According to Chithra, she gets nervous every time she has to perform live on a stage even after being in the music industry for more than four decades.

• She enjoys learning new languages. She learnt the basics of Telugu from the legendary playback singer Balasubrahmanyam, and Tamil from Latika, a singer.

• She practised her Tamil pronunciation by listening to cassettes of S Janaki, an Indian playback singer.

• As an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna, she has sung many kirtans on Lord Krishna, which are included in the album ‘Krishnapriya.’

  

• She is the only singer from India to perform live in the House of Commons, London.

• In 2001, she became the first Indian female singer from South India to perform live in the Royal Albert Hall, London. She was titled the Golden Voice of India by the Royal Albert Hall.

• According to K. S. Chithra, her favourite song amongst all her national award-winning songs is the ‘Paadariyen Padippariyen’ song from the Tamil film ‘Sindhu Bhairavi.’

• According to K. S. Chithra, her top 3 favourite songs from all of her songs are ‘Varmukelae’ from the film “Mazha,” ‘Ethetho Ennam Valarthean’ from ‘Punnagai Mannan,’ and ‘Khanahai Kiya’ from ‘Bombay.’

• In 2001, she became the first singer from South India to get the MTV Award.

• K. S. Chithra has served as a member of the judge’s panel on various reality TV shows like Idea Star Singer, Josco Indian Voice, and Airtel Super Singer Junior.

• From 1985 to 1995, she won the Best Playback Singer at the Kerala State Awards 11 times in a row. She has won the reward 16 times and is the highest recipient of Kerala State Awards.

• She holds the record for being the oldest singer to win the Filmfare Awards South at 59 years of age for the Malayalam song ‘Theerame’ and also the oldest nominated female singer ever at the age of 59 for the Tamil song ‘Yennuyire.’

• She holds the record of receiving the highest number of national awards won by a female singer in India.

• On completion of her 40 years in the Indian film industry in 2019, she was honoured by Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, sovereign ruler of the Emirate of Sharjah.

• In 2003, she became the first Indian woman to be honoured by the British Parliament at the House of Commons in the United Kingdom.

• In 2009, her song ‘Kannalane (Kehna Hi Kya)’ from the film Bombay (1995) was included in The Guardian’s “1000 Songs Everyone Must Hear” list.

• In 2012, she launched a fundraising organisation, Sneha Nandana, with Asianet Cable Vision (ACV) on completion of her three decades in the music industry to support musicians who’ve retired due to financial or health issues.

  

• According to Chithra, being in a cinema hall hampers her singing quality due to which she never goes to a cinema hall before any live performances.

• During the COVID-19 lockdown, she created a separate album, Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavanthu, to do online concerts for charity purposes and gave some music lessons to kids.