Bhupinder Singh was born in Amritsar, Punjab to Natha Singhji, a musician and his introducer to music. Bhupinder's father was a stern teacher, and at one point, he detested music and its instruments
Singh's career started as a casual artist for All India Radio. He also worked at Doordarshan Center, New Delhi and would also play the guitar. It was in the year 1962 that music director Madan Mohan heard Singh at a dinner hosted by Satish Bhatia and called him to Bombay. Singh got the opportunity to sing the song 'Hoke Majboor Mujhe Usne Bulaya Hoga' alongside Mohammed Rafi, Talat Mahmood and Manna Dey in Chetan Anand's 'Haqeeqat'. He was given a solo by Khayyam in film Aakhri Khat. He has sung a few popular duets with Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi
Remembering him music director-composer Lalit Pandit told mid-day.com, "He had sung with my sister Sulakshana didi (Sulakshana Pandit) in movies and had also sung for me in my very first film Yaara Dildara. The song was ‘Hamare papa aur Hum, milakar rakkhen jo kadam' along with Amit kumar. He was a wonderful singer and one of the great guitarists who did many solo acoustic guitar pieces in Panchamda songs"
Remembering his first meet with Singh, actor Amol Palekar said, "I first bumped into Bhupinder at the recording of ‘Do Deewane Shahar Mein’ (Gharaonda, 1977) It was at Famous, Tardeo. There was a lot of excitement in the studio because Runa Laila had come down from Bangladesh. It was her first song in India. They were rehearsing and I made a couple of suggestions. Jaidevji liked those suggestions and Bhupinder was the first to respond saying ‘bahut achcha.’ That’s how our journey started. ‘Ek Akela is Shaher Mein’ is an iconic song not just in my career but in the history of Indian cinema.”
Bhupinder Singh passed away on July 18. "He was suffering from several health complications, including urinary issues since some time," his grieving wife Mitali had told IANS.
ADVERTISEMENT
