| Usha Uthup | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Usha Iyer |
| Also known as | Didi |
| Born | November 8, 1947 Mumbai, India [1] |
| Genres | Pop |
| Occupations | Singer, Playback singer |
| Instruments | Vocalist |
| Years active | 1966–present |
| Website | Official website |
Usha Uthup (Tamil: உஷா உதுப்; née Iyer; born November 8, 1947) is a popular Indian pop, jazz and playback singer. She is well known for popular hits in the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.[2][3]
She started her Bollywood playback career, when she sang an English verse in hit song, "Dum maro dum"" in Hare Rama Hare Krishna, and went on work with music directors like R.D. Burman and Bappi Lahiri, through the 1970s and 80s, singing hits like "Ek do cha cha cha" (Shalimar), "Koi yahan aha nache nache" (Disco Dancer), "Ramba ho" (Armaan), "Hari Om Hari" (Pyaara Dushman) and "Doston se pyar kiya" (Shaan) and more recently "Darrling" in 7 Khoon Maaf.[2] She has sung in 16 Indian languages including Bengali, Hindi, Punjabi, Assamese, Oriya, Gujarati, Marathi, Konkani, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Tulu and Telugu. She can also sing in several foreign languages including English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Sinhalese, Swahili, Russian, Nepalese, Arabic, Creole, Zulu, and Spanish.[2][4]
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Usha was born in Mumbai,[1] in a Tamil Brahmin family that hailed from Tamil Nadu, in Madras (now Chennai) in 1947. Her father Sami Iyer, later became the police commissioner of Bombay. She has three sisters Uma Pocha, Indira Srinivasan and Maya Sami, all of whom are singers and two brothers, one of whom is named Shyam. She was the fifth of six children. As a child, she lived in the police quarters at Lovelane in Byculla in Bombay and attended a local school.
When she was in school she was thrown out of music class because she didn't fit in with a voice like hers. But her music teacher recognized that she had some music in her and would give her clappers or triangles to play. Even though she was not formally trained in music, she grew up in an atmosphere of music. Her parents used to listen to a wide range from Western classical to Hindustani and Carnatic including Kishori Amonkar and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan on radio and she used to join them.[5] She used to enjoy listening to Radio Ceylon.
Her next door neighbour was S.M.A. Pathan, who was then the deputy commissioner of police. His daughter, Jamila, inspired Usha to learn Hindi, wear salwar kameez and take up Indian classical music. This fusion approach helped her to pioneer her unique brand of Indian pop in the 1970s. She is married to Mr Jani Uthup from Kottayam, Kerala.
Her first public singing occurred when she was nine. Her sisters who were already exploring a music career, took her to a musician called Ameen Sayani who gave her an opportunity to sing on the Ovaltine Music Hour in Radio Ceylon. She sang a number called "Mockingbird Hill". After that, several appearances followed through her teenage years.
Uthup started singing in a small nightclub in Chennai called as Nine Gems in the basement of the erstwhile Safire theater complex on Mount Road,[6] when she was 20, wearing a saree and leg callipers. Her performance was so well received that the owner of the nightclub asked her to stay on for a week.[7] After her first night club gig, she began singing in Calcutta at night clubs such as "Trincas". She met her future husband Uthup in Trincas. At about the same time, she also sang at "Talk of the Town", now known as "Not Just Jazz By The Bay" in Bombay (now Mumbai).[8] After Trincas, her next engagement took her to Delhi where she sang at the Oberoi hotels. By happenstance, a film crew belonging to Navketan unit including Shashi Kapoor visited the nightclub and they offered her a chance to sing movie playback. As a result, she started her Bollywood career with Hare Rama Hare Krishna. Originally, she was supposed to sing Dum Maro Dum along with Asha Bhosle. However, as a result of internal politicking on the part of other singers, she lost that chance but ended up singing an English verse.
In 1968, she recorded covers of two pop songs in English, "Jambalaya" and The Kingston Trio's "Greenback Dollar", on an EP, Love Story, and "Scotch and Soda", another Kingston Trio song, which sold very well in the Indian market. She also spent some time in London during this early period. She was a frequent visitor to Vernon Corea's BBC office at the Langham in London and was interviewed on London Sounds Eastern on BBC Radio London. Usha visited Nairobi as part of an Indian festival. She was so popular that she was invited to stay on. Singing and quite often nationalistic songs in Swahili made her extremely popular and the then President Jomo Kenyatta made her an Honorary Citizen of Kenya. She sang the famous song "Malaika" (angel) with Fadhili Williams who was the original singer. She produced a record "live in Nairobi" with a local band Fellini Five.
Uthup sang several songs in the 1970s and 1980s for music directors R D Burman and Bappi Lahiri. She also reprised some of R.D. Burman songs that were sung by others such as Mehbooba Mehbooba and Dum Maro Dum and popularised them to a distinct end.
Uthup sang in Chris Perry's Konkani album Chris Perry Presents Usha - 'Meu Amor' .[9]
She is currently (2011-2012) a judge on Kuyil Paatu, aired in Kalaignar TV, a popular tamil TV channel, along with Anuradha Sriram.
Some of her famous songs for movies (and associated music directors) include:
| Song | Movie | Year | Composer |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Yeh Raat Monalisa" | Kaafiron Ki Namaaz | 2012 | Advait Nemlekar |
| "Hai Ye Maya" | Don 2 | 2011 | Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy |
| "Darling", "Doosri Darling" (with Rekha Bhardwaj) | 7 Khoon Maaf | 2011 | Vishal Bhardwaj |
| "Wicket Bacha" (with Earl) | Hattrick | 2007 | Pritam |
| "Teri Meri Merry Christmas" | Bow barracks Forever | 2007 | Anjun Dutt |
| "Kabhi Pa Liya Tho Kabhi Kho Diya" | Jogger's Park | 2003 | Tabun |
| "Din Hai Na Ye Raat" | Bhoot | 2003 | Salim-Sulaiman |
| "Vande Mataram" | Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... | 2001 | Jatin-Lalit, Sandesh Shandilya, Aadesh Shrivastav |
| "Raja Ki Kahani" | Godmother | 1999 | Vishal Bhardwaj |
| "Daud" | Daud | 1998 | A. R. Rahman |
| "Vegam Vegam Pogum Pogum" | Anjali | 1991 | Ilaiyaraaja |
| "Keechurallu" | Keechurallu | 1991 | Ilaiyaraaja |
| "Koi Yahan Aha Nache Nache" | Disco Dancer | 1982 | Bappi Lahiri |
| "Ramba Ho" | Armaan | 1981 | Bappi Lahiri |
| "Hari Om Hari" | Pyaara Dushman | 1980 | Bappi Lahiri |
| "Tu Mujhe Jaan Se Bhi Pyara Hai" | Wardaat | 1981 | Bappi Lahiri |
| "Doston Se Pyar Kiya" | Shaan | 1980 | R D Burman |
| "Shaan Se..." | Shaan | 1980 | R D Burman |
| "Ek Do Cha Cha Cha" | Shalimar | 1978 | R D Burman |
In addition, she has also sung as a playback singer for the following Bollywood movies: Dhol (2007), June R (2005), Joggers' Park (2003), Jajantaram Mamantaram (2003), Ek Tha Raja (1996), Dushman Devta (1991), Bhavani Junction (1985), Hum Paanch (1980), and Purab Aur Pachhim (1970) among others.[10]
She is a stage performer and gave performances all over the world and is known for her lively stage presence. She has been felicitated with several awards over the years, some of which include Rajiv Gandhi Purashkar for National Integration for quality music, Mahila Shiromani Purashkar for international peace, and Channel [V] award for outstanding achievement.
She recorded her first album with Luis Banks for which she was paid Rs. 3500. Since then, she has recorded numerous albums. Usha's Hindi version of Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough", titled "Chhupke Kaon Aya", can be found on the album Tom Middleton - The Trip (2004). A cover of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" is on another Tom Middleton album, Cosmosonica - Tom Middleton Presents Crazy Covers Vol. 1 (2005). She recently recorded a song called "Rhythm and Blues" with the Indian rock band Parikrama which appeared on Channel V on April 23, 2007.
Uthup is also an actress, often singing and acting in India's signature musical films. In 2006, she acted in the Malayalam movie Pothan Vava as Kurisuveettil Mariamma.
She made a cameo appearance in the movie Bombay To Goa with Amitabh Bachchan and Shatrughan Sinha in 1972. In 2007, she appeared in Bow Barracks Forever directed by Anjun Dutt as herself. Again in 2007, she appeared in Hattrick music video as herself.
She appeared in disguise on Indian Idol 1 and 2. She was one of the co-judges of the 2007 and 2008 & Idea Star Singer Season V (2010) the most rated south Indian reality show as well music oriented reality shows in Malayalam.
She has a minor role in the 2010 Tamil movie Manmadan Ambu, as the mother of Madhavan.
She also acted in Vishal Bhardwaj's 7 Khoon Maaf as a maid. She has also sang a song in the film which released on February 18, 2011.
Usha's trademark is her massive bindi and flowers that she wears in her hair, as well as her Kancheepuram saris
West Bengal Public Works Department minister Jatin Chakraborty who belonged to the Communist Party of India banned her from singing in all state-owned buildings accusing her of singing in a "decadent" style. The controversy started when she was invited to sing at the Government Cancer Research Center in Thakurpukur in Calcutta and the minister preemtively enforced the ban to prevent her. After an explosive meeting with the minister, she sued the Government. Several political figures, including the Chief Minister Jyoti Basu came out in support of her. She won the lawsuit against the government. Following her father's advice, she dropped her separate defamation lawsuit against the minister. The minister subsequently resigned from his post after he made further allegations against other people including the son of the chief minister.
In 2008, the communists again resorted to further insults when the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) Kerala General secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, irritated by his party workers who had gone berserk during a public meeting at Kottayam, admonished them that it was not Usha Uthup's programme but the meeting of the communists. As a response, popular pop singer Usha Uthup said she and her supporters were hurt by such a remark.
She is married to Jani Chacko Uthup who is originally from Manganam, Kottayam, and was formerly married to the late Ramu Iyer. They have a daughter Anjali and a son Sunny, named after the song, "Sunny".[11]
She currently lives in Kolkata with her husband. She is considered an icon of modern Kolkata and is an active social presence in the city life.