Legendary singer S. Janaki dies at 88

• Legendary playback singer S. Janaki passed away in Mysuru on July 11. She was 88.

• Known for her versatility, Janaki recorded more than 48,000 songs, predominantly Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.

• Over a career spanning six decades, she sang for films, albums, television and radio programmes in about 20 Indian languages, including Hindi, Odia, Urdu, Punjabi and Bengali.

• Fondly known as “Janaki Amma” among her followers, she was regarded as the “Nightingale of South India”.

• Janaki was born on April 23, 1938, in Pallapatla, Guntur, in Andhra Pradesh.

• Janaki began her singing career with the Tamil film ‘Vidhiyin Vilayattu’ (1957) at the age of 19.

• Her duets with legends such as P.B. Srinivas, S.P. Balasubrahmanyam and Dr Rajkumar are considered evergreen hits.

• She also sang in English, Japanese, German and Sinhala.

• Janaki won four National Film Awards and various state film awards.

• She received an honorary doctorate from the University of Mysore, the Kalaimamani award from the Tamil Nadu government, and the Rajyotsava Prashasti from the government of Karnataka.

• In 2013, she refused to accept the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award of the government of India, saying it came too late.