Mukesh Chand Mathur

Early life
Mukesh was born in Ludhiana to Zorawar Chand Mathur, an engineer, and Chand Rani. He was the sixth in a family of ten children. The music teacher who came home to teach Mukesh’s sister, Sundar Pyari, found a pupil in Mukesh who would listen from the adjoining room. Mukesh left school after the 10th grade and worked briefly for the Department of Public Works. He experimented with voice recordings during his employment in Delhi and gradually developed his singing abilities.

Singing career
Mukesh’s voice was first noticed by Motilal, a distant relative, when he sang at his sister’s wedding. Motilal took him to Bombay and arranged for singing lessons by Pandit Jagannath Prasad. During this period Mukesh was offered a role in a Hindi film, Nirdosh (1941). His first song was Dil hi bujha hua ho to as an actor-singer for Nirdosh. He got his break as a playback singer for actor Motilal in 1945 with the film Pehli nazar with music by Anil Biswas & lyrics by Aah Sitapuri. The first song that he sang for a Hindi film was Dil jalta hai to jalne de, which was picturised on Motilal.
He was such a fan of K. L. Saigal that in his early years of playback singing he used to imitate his idol. In fact, it is said that when K. L. Saigal first heard the song Dil jalta hai to jalne de, he remarked, “That’s strange, I don’t recall singing that song”.
Mukesh created his own singing style with the help of music director Naushad, who helped Mukesh to come out of his saigal style and to create his own Mukesh style. Naushad gave mukesh songs to sing for him in the movie Andaz. Initially Mukesh was the ghost voice of Dilip Kumar in this movie and Mohammed Rafi sang for Raj Kapoor.He deliverd many Hits to him in movies like: Anokha Pyaar(1948), Mela(1948), Andaz(1949),Shabnam(1949),Yahudi (1958) and Madhumati (1958).However later Dilip Kumar choose Mohammed Rafi as his ghost voice and Mukesh became the ghost voice of Raj Kapoor .
In 1974, Mukesh received National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer for the song Kai baar yoon bhi dekhaa hai from Rajnigandha (1974), and Filmfare Awards for the songs Sab kuch seekha in the movie Anari (1959), Sabse bada naadan wahi hai in Pehchaan (1970), Jai bolo in Be imaan (1972) and Kabhi Kabhie Mere Dil Mein, the title song of film Kabhie Kabhie (1976). A total of around 1,200 songs were sung by him. This number is less than those sung by some of his contemporaries, but the fact is that Mukesh emphasized on quality rather than quantity. The comparatively less songs sung by him in the 70s can be attributed to both the Kishore wave and his failing health due to his worsening heart problem.

Personal life
Mukesh married Sarla Trivedi Raichand alias Bachhiben in a temple in Kandiwali in 1946, at the residence of R. D. Mathur. Sarla was the daughter of a Gujarati Brahmin millionaire. With no proper house, an erratic income and what was then considered in India a supposedly “immoral” profession, Mukesh and Sarla were forced to elope. Everyone made dire predictions of unhappy days and divorce, but both weathered the lean days and celebrated their thirtieth wedding anniversary on 22 August 1976, four days before his departure for the U.S.A. on 27 July 1976. The couple had five children – Rita, Nitin, Nalini (d. 1978), Mohnish (Taboo – nickname) and Namrata (Amrita). He is the grandfather of actor Neil Nitin Mukesh.

Death
Mukesh died of a heart attack on 27 August 1976 in Detroit, Michigan, USA, where he had gone to perform in a concert. His body was flown to India by Lata Mangeshkar, where a grand funeral ceremony was held in the presence of several actors, with personalities of the Indian film industry and fans paying tribute. When news of his death reached Raj Kapoor, he burst into tears, and remarked, “I have lost my voice,” which is a testimony to the association of Mukesh’s voice (in playback) to the immensely popular songs of Raj Kapoor’s films. A famous song of the 50s featured on Bharat Bhushan Aa laut ke aa ja mere meet is another example of his earlier melodies, as is Dil tadap tadapke keh raha hai, picturised on Dilip Kumar.
After Mukesh’s death, his newer, hitherto unreleased, songs were released in 1977 in films such as Dharam Veer, Amar Akbar Anthony, Khel khiladi ka, Darinda and Chandi sona. The year 1978 also featured a considerable number of Mukesh’s songs in films such as Aahuti, Paramatma, Tumhari kasam and Satyam Shivam Sundaram, where Mukesh sang his last film song Chanchal sheetal nirmal komal for Raj Kapoor’s younger brother, Shashi Kapoor. From 1980 onward, Mukesh’s voice was heard in many later released films such as Shaitan mujarim, Premika, Patthar se takkar (1980), Sanjh ki bela, Maila anchal (1981), Aarohi (1982), Chor mandali (1983), Nirlaj (1985), Love and God (1986), Shubh chintak (1989), and his last known release of Chand grahan (1997).