Veteran Singer Bhupinder Singh No More: Lesser Known Facts About The Legendary Musician

Legendary singer Bhupinder Singh, who was known for evergreen songs such as 'Dil dhoondta hai' (Mausam; 1975) and 'Beeti naa beetai raina' (Parichay; 1972), died on Monday, July 18, at a city hospital in Mumbai at the age of 82. The veteran singer's wife Mitali Singh told PTI that he passed away due to suspected colon cancer and Covid-related complications. He had been ailing for a long time and was undergoing treatment related to several health complications for the past 10 days.

"He was admitted to the hospital eight to ten days ago as he had some infection in the urine. After tests were performed, he tested positive for Covid. He passed away at around 7.45 pm due to suspected colon cancer and had Covid," Mitali Singh told PTI.

Born in Amritsar, Punjab, the celebrated vocalist has worked with talented artists such as the late Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, Kishore Kumar, Mohammed Rafi, Talat Mahmood and Manna Dey, etc. And sang a number of popular Hindi film songs and ghazals.

Singer played guitar for several popular tracks

His decades-long career, includes hit classics such as 'Naam gum jayega' (Kinara; 1977), 'Ek akela iss shaher mein' (Gharonda; 1977), Huzoor iss kadar bhi na itra ke chaliye (Masoom; 1983) among many others. He also played the guitar for several popular tracks, including 'Dum maro dum' (Hare Rama Hare Krishna; 1971) and 'Chura liya hai' (Yaadon Ki Baaraat; 1973).

PM Narendra Modi mourned the demise of the eminent singer with a tweet that read, "Anguished by the passing away of Shri Bhupinder Singh Ji, who has given memorable songs for decades. His works struck a chord with several people. In this sad hour, my thoughts are with his family and admirers. Om Shanti."

Bhupinder Singh initially hated music and instruments

Bhupinder Singh's father, Prof Natha Singhji, was a trained vocalist and his early music teacher. However, he was so strict that Singh initially hated music and instruments. He started his music career by performing on All India Radio, Delhi.

In 1962, music director Madan Mohan spotted him at a dinner hosted by AIR Delhi producer Satish Bhatia and called him to Bombay. Bhupinder Singh is credited for introducing Spanish guitar, bass and drums to the ghazal style. However, he moved away from playback singing after his marriage to Bangladeshi singer Mitali in the mid-1980s.