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Jagjit Singh (Punjabi: ਜਗਜੀਤ  ਸਿਘ , Hindi: जगजीत  सिह , Urdu:  ھگ ن یت س گج ); bornج Jagmohan Singh; (8

February 1941 – 10 October 2011) was a prominentIndian 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), isIndia'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 andNepali 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.

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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), andTV 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

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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 severalphilanthropic 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 Kaurfrom Ottallan village, Samrala in a house that was known

as Pat Ram Ki Chhikari (cluster of six houses). He had

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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 andthen 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

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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.

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