Jagjit Singh (singer)

Jagjit Singh
Jagjit Singh performing at Rabindra Mandap, Bhubaneswar, on 7 September 2011
Born	Jagmohan Singh Dhiman (1941-02-08)8 February 1941 Sri Ganganagar, Bikaner State, Rajputana Agency, India
Died	10 October 2011(2011-10-10) (aged 70) Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Other names	The Ghazal King
Occupation	Composer, singer, music director
Spouse(s)	Chitra Singh (m. 1969)
Children	Vivek
Musical career
Genres	Ghazal, classical, devotional, folk
Instruments	Vocals, harmonium, tanpura, piano
Years active	1961–2011
Labels	EMI, HMV, Saregama, Universal, Sony BMG, CBS, Polydor, TIPS, Venus, T-Series, Magna Sound, Big, Times

Jagjit Singh, born Jagmohan Singh Dhiman (8 February 1941 – 10 October 2011), was an iconic Indian Ghazal singer, composer and musician. Known as the "Ghazal King", he gained acclaim together with his wife, another renowned Indian ghazal singer Chitra Singh in the 1970s and 1980s. Their combination album comprising music from the films, Arth and Saath Saath is the HMV's largest selling combination album of all time.Sajda (An Offering, 1991), Jagjit Singh's magnum opus double album with Lata Mangeshkar holds the same record in non-film category. He sang in numerous languages. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the government of India in 2003. In February 2014, Government of India released a postal stamp in his honour.

Singh is credited for the revival and popularity of ghazal, an Indian classical art form, by choosing poetry that was relevant to the masses and composing them in a way that laid more emphasis on the meaning of words and melody evoked by them. In terms of Indian Classical music, his style of composing and Gayaki (singing) is considered as Bol-pradhan, one that lays emphasis on words. He highlighted this in his music for films such as Prem Geet (1981), Arth and Saath Saath (1982), and TV serials Mirza Ghalib (1988) and Kahkashan (1991). Jagjit Singh is considered to be the most successful ghazal singer and composer of all time in terms of critical acclaim and commercial success. With a career spanning five decades and a repertoire comprising over 90 albums, the range and breadth of his work has been regarded as genre-defining. He is the only composer and singer to have composed and recorded songs written by former Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee – also a poet – in two albums, Nayi Disha (1999) and Samvedna (2002).