P. Susheela

Pulapaka Suseela (born 13 November 1935) is an Indian playback singer from Andhra Pradesh associated with the South Indian cinema for over six decades and is referred to as the "Evergreen Nightingale of Indian cinema". She is one of the greatest and best-known playback singers in India. She has been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as well as by the Asia Book of Records for performing a record number of songs in different Indian languages. She is also the recipient of five National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer and numerous state awards. Susheela is widely acclaimed as a singer who defined feminism in South Indian cinema and is well known for her mellifluous vocal performances for over 50,000 (counted as per records) film and devotional songs across South Indian languages. The song "Naalai Intha Velai" from Tamil film Uyarndha Manidhan brought her the first award at the 16th National Film Awards, by winning her the National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer in 1969. Susheela became the first female singer in the country to win the national award. She is also considered one of the rich voiced singers whose pronunciation of the syllables are to be very clear and precise in any of the languages she sang. In a career spanning more than six decades, she has recorded nearly 17695 songs in various Indian languages including Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, Bengali, Odia, Sanskrit, Tulu, and Badaga. She has also sung for Sinhalese films. Her mother tongue is Telugu. She can also speak Tamil fluently, with a little knowledge of Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada.