Alisha Chinai is a pop singer and Bollywood playback singer. She was born on March 18, 1965 as Sujatha Chinai. She was briefly married to her manager Rajesh Jhaveri but the couple separated at the end of 1994. However they continue to work together professionally.
Alisha Chinai started her career as an independent pop singer in albums like “Jadoo”, “Aah Alisha” and “Baby Doll”.
She was introduced to playback singing in movies by music director Bappi Lahari in the 1980s and sang a number of hit songs in movies like “Tarzan”, “Dance Dance”, “Commando”, “Guru” and “Love Love Love”. She worked with Remo Fernandez in 1985 for the album “Old Goan Gold” and sang a hit number for the movie “Jalwa” in 1987. She also sang the song “Kaate Nahin Katte” in the movie “Mr. India” which is still one of the biggest hits of the 1980s. Composed by Viju Shah and Kalyanji-Anandji, the song “Raat Bhar Jaam Se” from the movie “Tridev” is another of her hit songs.
In the 1990s, she started working with other music directors as well like Anu Malik, Anand-Milind, Nadeem Shravan and Rajesh Roshan. Some of her hit songs during this period were “Tere Ishq Mein Nachenge” from the movie “Raja Hindustani”, “Chaa Raha Hain Pyaar Ka Nasha” from “Chandramukhi”, “Roundhe” from “Pyar Tune Kya Kiya”. She is also remembered for her songs “Ruk Ruk Ruk” from “Vijaypath” and “Sexy Sexy Sexy” from “Khuddaar”.
Alisha achieved her greatest success as a pop singer in 1996 with the release of her singles album “Made in India” with music composed by Biddu. The album had some great hits like “Ooh La La”, “Ek Baar Do Baar”, “Tu Jo Mila” among other songs. She quit playback singing at this point to concentrate on her albums. She also claimed that she was molested by Anu Malik, with whom she had sung many hit songs and stopped working with him until 2003 when she returned to playback singing and both of them reunited for the movie “Ishq Vishq”. Alisha continued to work with Anu Malik for other movies as well like “Fida”, “No Entry”, “Love Story 2050” etc. In the 2000s she also worked with music directors like Himesh Reshammiya, Pritam and Shankar Eshan Loy. Her biggest achievement during this time came with the song “Kajra Re” in the movie “Bunty Aur Bubly” which won her a Filmfare Award. Alisha also appeared as a judge in the popular reality show “Indian Idol 3”.
Alisha is the winner of a number of national and international awards including the International Billboard Award and Freddie Mercury award for artistic excellence.
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