sonu nigam

Sonu Nigam (Hindi: सोनू निगम; born 30 July 1973 in Faridabad, Haryana, India)^[1] is an Indian playback singer whose songs have been featured in numerous Kannada, Hindi, Telugu, Marathi and Tamilmovies. He has also released numerous Indi-pop albums and acted in a few Hindi feature films. He had changed the spelling of his last name from 'Nigam' to 'Niigaam' in accordance with numerology, but could not get desired results, he returned to the old spelling 'Nigam'.^[2

Career

[edit]Early years and playback singing

Sonu Nigam began his singing career at the age of three, when he joined his father on stage to sing Mohammad Rafi's"Kya Hua Tera Vaada, Wo Kasam Wo Irada." From then on Sonu accompanied his father on his singing appearances at weddings and parties. In his teenage years he participated in several music competitions successfully. He moved toMumbai with his father to begin his Bollywood singing career at the age of 19.^[3]

His initial years in Mumbai proved to be a struggle, beginning by singing covers of Mohammad Rafi songs, mainly for a number of "Rafi Ki Yaadein" albums released by T-Series. T-Series promoter Gulshan Kumar played a key role in identifying Sonu's talent by giving him a chance to reach a larger audience. These albums contributed to T-Series for some years although Sonu's singing style was regarded by some to be like that of a "Rafi clone". Nigam's first movie song as a playback singer was in the film Janam (1990), which was never officially released. Sonu also got a break in several radio commercials until he appeared on the popular TV show Sa Re Ga Ma, after which there was no turning back. He was trained by Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan, a very fine classical singer.

Sonu started hosting Sa Re Ga Ma in 1995 with the first episode airing on the 1st of May 1995. Sa Re Ga Ma, television singing talent competition, soon became one of the most popular shows on Indian television. The format of that show gave Sonu a chance to showcase his singing skills as well as his natural charm and audience appeal. Soon after, he sang "Accha Sila Diya" on the album Bewafa Sanam (1995), which was very successful.^[3] Singing offers started pouring in thereafter, albeit slowly at first. He rose to fame with the Anu Malik composed song "Sandese Aate Hain," in Border in 1997. Sonu's image as a 'Rafi clone' changed after his rendition of the Nadeem-Shravan composed song "Yeh Dil Deewana" in Pardes in the same year. Since then, he has created a unique style of his own, and has become a role model for emerging vocal talent in India.