Hyderabad: Veteran singer Vani Jayaram, who has sung over 10,000 songs in several languages in over 1,000 movies, was born in Tamil Nadu's Vellore. Although she was born into a family of trained classical musicians, little did her parents knew that she will become a towering figure in the Indian music industry when they enrolled her in the classes of Ranga Ramunaja Iyengar, who was also their music teacher, that one day their daughter will go on to win the National Film Awards for best female playback singer thrice.
Her flair for singing became apparent in her childhood. Her interest was not just limited to songs of the Southern film industries and also spilled over into Bollywood. She listened to Hindi songs on the radio with rapt attention and went on to have her first public performance at the tender age of eight at the All India Radio in Madras. She entered into wedlock with Jairam and shifted to Mumbai.
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Jairam was well aware of his wife's potential and egged her on to get trained in Hindustani classical music. She was trained by Ustad Abdul Rehman Khan of the Patiala Gharana. She was trained in several genres of music, including Bhajan, Ghazal and Thumri and gave her maiden public concert in 1969. She left her mark in Telugu, Hindi and Tamil cinema. Vani made her debut in the Telugu film industry in 1973 with the film 'Abhimanavanthulu' with the classical song "Eppativalekaadura Naa Swami." However, she stormed into the Telugu playback landscape with the film 'Pooja' two years later. The two songs "Poojalu Cheya" and "Ennenno Janmala Bandham" made her a household name.
Her popularity skyrocketed with K Viswanath's musical film "Sankarabharanam" in 1979 and she won her second National Film award for the songs in the film. She is remembered by Bollywood fans for her song "Bole Re Papihara", in the 1971 classic "Guddi" starring Jaya Bachchan. The movie was directed by legendary director Hrishikesh Mukherjee. She also sang in a few other Hindi songs such as Khoon Ka Badla Khoon (1978), Parinay (1974) and Solva Sawan (1979). As for the Tamil industry, she made her debut in the film 'Thayum Seiyum' in 1973. However, the film is yet to see the light of day. Her first released song was in the film 'Veettukku Vandha Marumagal' (1973). She also sang in films such as "Sollathaan Ninaikkiren" and "Dheerga Sumangali " (1974).
