Chitra Singh

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Chitra Singh

Background information
Birth name	Chitra Dutta
Genre(s)	Ghazal
Occupation(s)	Singer

Chitra Singh is a renowned Indian Urdu/Hindi ghazals singer. She is married to Jagjit Singh, who is also a prominent ghazal singer. They form a highly popular duet team and are considered pioneers in modern ghazal singing.

Chitra Singh (maiden name, Dutta) was born in a Bengali family. She had no formal musical training, but had strong roots of music in her family. She learned much of her music by listening to her mother's music teacher.

Chitra met Jagjit in Mumbai (Bombay) in the late 1960s, and they started a musical career together by singing jingles for various advertisements. Their career took off with the launching of The Unforgettables, an album with several firsts to its credits. Their public singing before large audiences revolutionized ghazal singing. Till then, ghazal singing used to be confined to musical performances ("mehfils") before small audiences consisting primarily of the elite in the society.

The duo composed and sang songs for Hindi, Punjabi and Bengali albums. They contributed to devotional music by releasing albums which included Krishna, Chirag, Hey Ram, and Shabads. Krishna is one of the largest selling titles in its category.

After the tragic death of their son, Vivek, in a road accident, Chitra stopped singing and retreated into a private world. (She has been learning and working on different forms of spirituality, and believes in psychic healing methods.)

Some of Chitra's memorable songs include "Yeh Tera Ghar, Yeh Mera Ghar", "Tum Aao To Sahi", "Woh Nahin Milta Mujhe", "Saare Badan Ka Khoon", and "Mitti Da Bawa". Chitra's voice is specially suited for ghazals, producing soulful gems like "Lab-e-Khamosh Se" (album Beyond Time). Her clear, touching, and high-pitched voice provided a perfect blend with Jagjit's deep bass and smooth voice, and their duets created an extraordinary effect in songs like "Ishq Mein Ghairat-e-jazbaat Ne", "Aaye Hain Samjhane Log", and "Uski Hasrat Hai Jise Dile Se Mitha Bhi Na Sakoon". Chitra's voice also had a special dimension within the gamut of ghazal singing, so that in the case of "darbari mehfil" ghazals (as in "Dil-e-Nadaan Tujhe", "Dil He To Hai", and "Har Ek Baat Pe Kehteh Ho" from the album, Mirza Ghalib) she was almost unparalleled.