Sound

Manna Dey

Prabodh Chandra Dey (May 1, 1919 − October 24, 2013), known by his stage name Manna Dey, was an internationally acclaimed and celebrated Indian playback singer, music director, and a musician. As a classical vocalist, he belonged to the Bhendibazaar Gharana and was trained under Ustad Aman Ali Khan. He is considered one of the most versatile and celebrated vocalists of the Hindi film industry, often credited with the success of Indian classical music in Hindi commercial movies. As a musician, Dey is best known for infusing Indian classical music in a pop framework that ushered the golden period in Hindi cinema. In a career spanning over five decades, Dey recorded total 3,047 songs, though most primarily in Bengali and Hindi; Dey also sang in 14 other Indian languages, including Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Assamese, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, and Chhattisgarhi. The mid-50s to 70s were considered the peak of his musical career. The Government of India honored him with the Padma Shri in 1971, the Padma Bhushan in 2005 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2007.