Faridabad-born Richa Sharma was brought up in an environment ripe with music. She learnt to sing ‘bhajans’ from her mother and sang for locally held ‘Jagrans’ and ‘Mata Ki Chowki.’ When all of eight years, she enrolled in the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya for proper training in music. Under Pandit Aaskaran Sharma, Richa not only learnt Hindustani classical music but also ghazals and Folk music, especially Punjabi and Rajasthani folk music.
By 1994, she had decided that music was what she would earn her bread and butter with, and moved to Mumbai. She started out by singing cover versions and remixed versions of popular early 1990s’ songs and Ila Arun’s private albums. She made a rather nondescript Hindi film debut with “Salma Pe Dil Aa Gaya” (1997). Rather early in her career, she had the opportunity to sing compositions of A.R. Rehman in “Taal” (2000). After “Ni Main Samajh Gayi” from the film made industry people sit up and take notice, there was no looking back for her.
The thumri “Chhod Na Mori Baiyyan” (“Zubeidaa”, 2001), again under the Rehman, is one song that she claims is close to her heart. Another rather popular song was “Maahi Ve” (“Kaante”, 2002), which she sang along with Sukhwinder Singh. This song also won her the Bollywood Movie Award for Playback Singing. Some of her famous songs include “Zingadi Mein Koi Kabhi” (“Musafir”, 2004), “Tauba Tauba” (“Kaal”, 2005), “Bitiya Na Keejo” (“Umrao Jaan”, 2006), “Billo Raani” (“Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal”, 2007) and the most recent “Sajda” (“My Name Is Khan”, 2010). She has also been regular at Talent shows on television as a performer, a guest singer or even the judge.
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