Veteran singer Vani Jairam passes away at 78

Vani Jairam made her debut as a playback singer with the 1971 Hindi film ‘Guddi’ with the song ‘Bol re Papihara’.

Hyderabad: National Award-winning legendary playback singer Vani Jairam passed away on February 4. The renowned singer reportedly died at her house on Haddows Road, Nungambakkam in Chennai. She was 78 years old.

Vani Jairam made her debut as a playback singer with the 1971 Hindi film ‘Guddi’ with the song ‘Bol re Papihara’. The singer, who recently celebrated her 50-year journey as a professional singer, has had a glorious and successful career spanning over five decades and has recorded around 10,000 songs in various Indian languages, including Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Gujarati, Haryanvi, Assameese, Tulu, and Bengali.

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She worked with many legendary composers, including MS Vishwanathan, KV Mahadevan, Chakravarthy, Ilaiyaraaja, and Sathyam, among others.

Vani has won National Film awards for best female playback singer thrice, besides also receiving State awards from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat, and Odisha.

On January 25 this year, the singer was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India, the third-highest civilian award.

The news of her sudden demise sent shock waves across the country. More details are awaited.