Asha Bhosle (born 8 September 1933), is an Indian singer. She was born Asha Mangeshkar on September 8, 1933 in the village of Goar in Maharashtra into a Brahmin household.` Her father was Dinanath Mangeshkar and her mother was named Shudhmati. When she was only 16 years old, she fell in love with 31 year old Ganpatrao Bhosle; he was Lata's personal secretary.` Asha was resolute in her desire to marry him, and much against the wishes of her family, she eloped with him.` However her married life to Mr. Bhosle was short lived; after a few years with him, she returned to her mother's house with her two children and pregnant with her third.
Her career could hardly be described as meteoric, for it was a slow climb to the top.` A couple of successful film songs in the 1940's was not enough to guarantee professional stability.` In the 50's and 60's she sang in a variety of B and C grade movies.` The few times that she could sing in major films, her contributions were generally limited to "vamp" songs.` The choice numbers invariably went to Geeta Dutt, Shamshad Begum, and Lata.` She sang for a variety of film directors, and lyricists.
She is best known as a playback singer in Hindi cinema, although she has a wider repertoire. Bhosle's career started in 1943 and has spanned over six decades. She has done playback singing for over a thousand Bollywood movies. In addition, she has recorded several private albums and participated in numerous solo concerts in India and abroad.
Renowned for her voice range and often credited for her versatility, Bhosle's work includes film music, pop, ghazals, bhajans, traditional Indian classical music, folk songs, qawwalis, and Rabindra Sangeets. Apart from Hindi, she has sung in over 20 Indian and foreign languages. In 2006, Asha Bhosle stated that she had sung over 12,000 songs, a figure repeated by several other sources. In 2011, she was officially acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most recorded artist in music history. The Government of India honoured her with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2000 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2008. In 2013, she made her debut as an actress in the film Mai, and received critical acclaim for her performance.
Please click on the link below to see Asha ji talk about Excellence.