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All Music Guide:
One of the most prolific singers ever to work in the Indian film industry, Kumar Sanu's recorded output numbers in the thousands of songs, reaching by his estimation over 8,000 by the turn of the millennium. Sanu broke the Guinness world record for the largest number of songs recorded in a single day, with 28 -- a testament not only to his polished technique, but to his unparalleled ability to quickly and effortlessly master unfamiliar material in the studio. Sanu also holds the record (along with Lata Mangeshkar on the female side) for the longest string of consecutive Filmfare awards for Best Playback Singer (the equivalent of an Oscar and perhaps the most coveted musical award in India) with five, a streak that made him arguably the most popular male vocalist in India during the '90s. Kumar Sanu was born Kedernath Bhattacharjee and grew up in Calcutta; his father Pashupati Bhattacharjee was an accomplished classical vocalist and composer, and saw to his son's early musical training as a singer and tabla player. Getting a degree in commerce from Calcutta University, Sanu began performing publicly in 1979, singing at shows and restaurants around Calcutta in a style heavily influenced -- copied, some charged -- from film legend Kishore Kumar. Competition for singers in the Indian film industry was (and still is) extremely fierce, since it is the primary route to success in India, and it took Sanu several years to land his big break. He made his living in the early '80s partly by recording a series of Kishore Kumar covers for a pop label, but remained unable to make inroads into film. Finally, in 1987, music director Jagjit Singh -- noted for his mastery of the romantic ghazal song form -- offered Sanu the chance to sing in the Hindi film Andhiyan. Sanu relocated to Bombay, the capital of the Indian film industry, and soon landed another film, Jadoogar, helmed by the Kalyanji/Anandji team; they gave Sanu his stage name, partly to give him wider appeal outside of a strictly Bengali audience, and partly because of the heavy influence of his idol. Film fans began to take notice, poising Sanu for a major breakthrough. That breakthrough came in 1990 with the film Aashiqui, whose soundtrack was composed and directed by the Nadeem/Shravan team. Sanu sang all but one of the songs featured on the soundtrack album, which made him a star; he won the first of his record five consecutive Filmfare awards as Best Male Playback Singer, and began recording new material at a furious pace. He won Filmfares for his performances in Saajan, Deewana, Baazigar, and 1942: A Love Story (in order, up through 1994), but his work extended much farther, so much so that by the end of the decade he had recorded -- in many different languages -- for literally hundreds of films. As the '90s waned, Sanu slowed his amazing recording schedule a bit, feeling that he'd proven enough to become more selective in choosing his material (he preferred classic-style songs to newer, more Western-influenced pop). Seeking new challenges, he branched out into acting, appearing in a Bengali film and starting television serials in both Bengali and Hindi. He also became more comfortable with concert performances and embarked on frequent international tours. By the turn of the millennium, Sanu had promised to follow in fellow record-holder Lata Mangeshkar's footsteps by not accepting any further Filmfare awards (in order to make room for new talent), but the hits kept on coming through 1999 and 2000, and he continued to rival Udit Narayan as the most popular male singer in India.
Wikipedia:
Kumar Sanu (alias Kedarnath Bhattacharya, born in Kolkata) is a leading Indian Bollywood playback singer. He was awarded the Filmfare Best Male Playback Award over five consecutive years. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri in 2009.
Early life
Kumar Sanu's father Pashupati Bhattacharya was a vocalist and composer. He trained Sanu as a singer and tabla player. After getting a degree in commerce from Calcutta University, Sanu began performing publicly in 1979, singing at shows and restaurants around Calcutta. He modeled his singing style after Bollywood singer Kishore Kumar. Later he developed his own singing style.
Career
In 1987, music director and singer Jagjit Singh offered Sanu the chance to sing in the Hindi film Aandhiyan. Sanu then relocated to Mumbai, where Kalyanji-Anandji gave him chance to sing in the film Jaadugar. Kalyanji-Anandji suggested that he change his name from Kedar Nath Bhattacharya to Kumar Sanu.
Sanu started off singing Jagjit Singh's film songs, and went on to work with composers including Naushad, Ravindra Jain, Hridayanath Mangeshkar, Pt.R K Razdan, Kalyanji Anandji, and Usha Khanna.
For the 1990 film Aashiqui, music directors Nadeem-Shravan got Sanu to sing all but one of the songs which included "Ek Sanam Chahiye", "Tu meri zindagi hain", "Nazar Ke Saamne", "Jaane Jigar Jaaneman", "Ab Tere Bin Jee Lenge Hum" and "Dheere Dheere Se". He won the first of his record five consecutive Filmfare awards as Best Male Playback Singer. His next Filmfare Awards came for songs in the movies Saajan (1991), Deewana (1992), Baazigar (1993), and 1942: A Love Story (1994).
Sanu often collaborated with Nadeem-Shravan. Some of their collaborations include songs in movies like Aashiqi (1990), Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin (1991), Sadak (1991), Saajan (1991), Deewana (1992), Dil Ka Kya Kasoor (1992), Kal Ki Awaz (1992), Shreeman Aashique (1993), Salami (1993), Damini: Lightning (1993), Dilwale (1994), Agni Sakshi (1996), Raja Hindustani (1996), Jeet (1996), Pardes (1997), among others.
In a career spanning two decades he has sung with composers including R.D. Burman, Anand-Milind, Anu Malik, Jatin-Lalit, Nadeem-Shravan, Himesh Reshammiya, Ismail Darbar, Kalyanji Anandji, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Rajesh Roshan, Sajid-Wajid, Viju Shah, Uttam Singh for Dushman, Raam Laxman, Dilip Sen-Sameer Sen, Anand Raj Anand, Aadesh Shrivastava, Vishal-Shekhar, M. M. Keeravani & Vishal Bharadwaj.
He has also created music for Indian films and also produced the Bollywood film, Utthaan. Currently Kumar Sanu team up with Rakesh Bhhatia and together they produced Hindi feature film based on the four street children of Mumbai. All four children are doing shoe- polish on railway platform in order to earn their daily bread and butter. Mithun Chakraborty is acting in his movie as a lead role. Recently Kumar Sanu has sang for epic Bengali film Hason Raja, which directed by UK-based filmmaker Ruhul Amin.
Sanu was in the panel of judges on Sony TV for Waar Parriwar, a reality show based on the bringing together of a singing gharana (family of singers) and on Zee Bangla TV in a music reality show called Sa Re Ga Ma Pa - Vishwa Sera.
