Vani Jayaram is a renowned playback singer. Born in Vellore, she was considered a child prodigy, and started learning Carnatic music under T.R. Subramaniam. Following her marriage, she moved with her husband to Mumbai and sang in concerts while holding a day job. Composer Vasant Desai noticed her talent and offered her a song in a Marathi play. Egged by the success of this song, he decided to record all three songs of “Guddi” (1971) with her. While all three songs were appreciated by critics and music lovers, the “Bole Re Papihara” completely captured the nation’s imagination. It was an instant hit and won several awards.
More..
While she worked with many music directors, she increasingly became disillusioned by the treatment meted out to her by the Bombay film industry. However, her career in the Tamil film industry started flourishing and she also started getting offers for Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam films. By the 1980s, she decided to move to Chennai and focus on her career in the South where she worked with a number of Southern greats including M.S. Viswanathan, M.B. Srinivasan, K.V. Mahadevan and Ilayaraaja.
Vani Jayaram went on to win three National Awards for Best Female Singer, the Filmfare award for her songs in “Meera” (1980) composed by Pandit Ravi Shankar and several State Awards.
She continues to perform concerts and judges various talent shows on television.
Less..
