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Millions mourns as Indian Ghazal Singer Bhupinder Singh breathed his last.

WFY Bureau

Renowned Indian Ghazal Singer Bhupinder Singh passed away after battling severe health issues. He was 82.

He sang scores of Bollywood numbers in his heavy bass voice, passed away here on Monday evening. “He was suffering from several health complications, including urinary issues since some time,” his grieving wife Mitali told.

Singh is remembered for his memorable songs in films like “Mausam”, “Satte Pe Satta”, “Ahista Ahista”, “Dooriyan”, “Haqeeqat”, and many more. Some of his famed songs are “Hoke Majboor Mujhe, Usne Bulaya Hoga”, (with Mohammed Rafi, Talat Mehmood, and Manna Dey), “Dil Dhoondhta Hai”, “Duki Pe Duki Ho Ya Satte Pe Satta,” (multiple singers), and many others.

Bhupinder was born in Amritsar, Punjab, to Natha Singhji, a musician who was his musical mentor. Bhupinder’s father was a strict teacher who despised music and its instruments at one point.

Bhupinder began his career as a casual artist for All India Radio, directed by Satish Bhatia. He also worked at the Delhi Doordarshan Center. He also studied the guitar. In 1962, music director Madan Mohan heard him at a banquet thrown in his honour by Satish Bhatia (Satish Bhatia was Producer at AIR Delhi and Bhupinder was working under him as a guitarist) and invited him to Bombay. In Chetan Anand’s Haqeeqat, he sang the song Hoke Majboor Mujhe Usne Bulaya Hoga alongside Mohammed Rafi, Talat Mahmood, and Manna Dey. Khayyam gave him a solo in the film Aakhri Khat. Bhupinder’s voice is one of the most distinctive in the world of playback singing. He has sung a few popular duets with Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi.

Following that, Bhupinder began releasing private albums, including his first LP, which had three self-composed songs and was released in 1968, a second LP of ghazals in which he introduced the Spanish guitar, bass, and drums to the ghazal style and was released in 1978, and his third LP, Woh Jo Shair Tha, for which the lyrics were written by Gulzar and was released in 1980.

After marrying Bangladeshi vocalist Mitali, he transitioned away from backup singing in the mid-1980s and has subsequently collaborated on several albums and live shows. They have collaborated on numerous ghazal and geet cassettes.

His famous songs include “Dil Dhoondta hai”, “Do diwane shahar mein”, “Naam gum jayega”, “Karoge yaad to”, “Meethe bol bole”, “Kabhi kisi ko mukammal”, “Kisi nazar ko tera intezaar aaj bhi”, and “Ek akela is Shehar Mein”. He sang the song Duniya Chute Yaar Na Toote picturized on Rajesh Khanna. R. D. Burman made him sing songs like Raat Banoo Mein Geet Bano Tum, Naam Gum Jayega, Kahiya Kahan Se Aana Hua and Beete Na Bitaai Raina which made him famous.

On July 18, 2022, he died of a cardiac arrest at the age of 82. He had COVID, and colon cancer was also suspected. Music world has lost another gem and legendary Singer.

His body of work (few)

As guitarist

As playback singer

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