Happy Birthday Suresh Wadkar!

The voice behind many Hindi, Bhojpuri and Marathi songs, Suresh Ishwar Wadkar was born on the 7th of August, 1954 in Kolhapur, Maharashtra. A product of the Indian system of education in classical music, he has been in Bollywood for more than three decades. He is married to classical singer, Padma and has two daughters, Ananya and Gia.

Wadkar began learning music early, at the age of four, when his talent was recognized and nurtured by Shri Parshwanath Digrajkar. He was introduced to Pandit Jialal Vasant at the age of eight. He impressed his Guru so much that at the age of thirteen, he was entrusted with the responsibility of initiating a student in Tabla. He completed his "Prabhakar" with Vocals and Tabla through Allahabad's Prayag Sangit Samiti, which is equivalent to a B.Ed degree, and joined Arya Vidya Mandir in Mumbai as a teacher. He mentored many singers who went on to reach great heights.

Wadkar bagged the opportunity to sing for the movie, Gaman (1978) when he entered the Sur Singar Competition organized by the Sur Singar Samsad in 1976. He won the coveted Madan Mohan Best Male Singer Award. There was no looking back after that. He impressed Lata Mangeshkar with his voice quality and she recommended his name to many composers. Laxmikant-Pyarelal gave him the opportunity to record a duet with Mangeshkar, "Chal Chameli Bagh Mein" for the movie, Krodhi (1981), and though the song is still admired as one of his top songs, his career changer came a year later in the form of Raj Kapoor's Prem Rog (1982) when he sang all the songs picturized on Rishi Kapoor. Thereafter, he had the good fortune of working with some of the greatest music composers of his time, notably Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Kalyanji-Anandji, and Pt. Hridaynath Mangeshkar.

Wadkar is the recipient of many honours, including the 2004 Lata Mangeshkar Puraskar awarded to him by the Madhya Pradesh government and the 2007 Maharashtra Pride Award which is awarded to outstanding citizens. He also received the 2011 National Award for Best Male Playback Singer for the song, "Hey Bhaskara Kshitijavari Ya" from the Marathi movie, Mee Sindhutai Sapkal.

He has kept alive the Guru-Shishya parampara through his music school in Mumbai, named Suresh Wadkar's Ajivasan Music Academy. Established by his Guru Acharya in 1932, Wadkar took charge when the academy moved to Mumbai in 1986. The Academy offers a six year degree course in music and classical music is taught to students from all walks of life. He also started his online music teaching school under Ace Open University. Wadkar was also a judge on the reality show for children, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Little Champs in 2007.

Wadkar has always stressed the importance of learning classical music and has shown incredible versatility in his music throughout his illustrious career; ranging from classical to pop, to ghazals and devotional music.

We bring to you a mini playlist of some of his evergreen songs.

Writer: Tanisha N.
Editors: Shreya S. & Gunia K.
Graphics:  Virina R.

Have a suggestion or comment for BollyCurry? Then drop us a PM at BC_Dropbox today!