Usha Uthup is an Indian pop, jazz and playback singer. He is known as a pioneer of pop culture in Indian Music. He is called as “Didi from Kolkata.”
Wiki/Biography
Usha Uthup was born ‘Usha Vaidyanath Someshwar Sami Iyer (maiden name)’ on Friday, 7 November 1947 (age 71; as at 2018) in Bombay (now Mumbai). His zodiac sign is Scorpio. He did his schooling from St. Agnes, Mumbai.
Physical appearance
Height (approx): 5′ 4″
Weight (approx): 82 kg
Eye Color: Black
Hair Color: Black
Family, Caste & Husband
He belongs to a Tamil Brahmin Family. His father, Vaidyanath Someshwar Sami was a Deputy Commissioner in the Bombay Police. He has three younger sisters named Uma Pocha (doctor), Maya Sami (singer), Indira Srinivasan (tourism industry executive), and an older brother named Shyam Iyer.
Usha Uthup with her sisters
She is married to Ramu Iyer. After Ramu’s sudden death, he married for the second time to Jani Chacko Uthup (a businessman).
Usha Uthup And Jani Chacko Uthup
He has a daughter named Anjali Uthup (radio jockey) and a son named Sunny Uthup (event manager).
Usha Uthup With Her Family
Career
As a Singer
He started his career as a singer with Radio Ceylon’s ‘Ovaltine Music Hour’. In the show, she sang the song “Mockingbird Hill.” After that, he made several appearances during his teenage years in various shows. When he was 20, he started singing at Erstwhile Safire Theater Complex in a small nightclub called Nine Gems on Mount Road, Chennai. He also performed at nightclubs such as Trincas and Talk of the Town (now known as Not Just Jazz by the Bay). While she was performing at the Oberoi hotel, the film crew belonging to Navketan and Shashi Kapoor’s unit noticed her and gave her a chance to sing playback for the film.
Usha Uthup Singing
He then made his film debut as a singer with the English film “Bombay Talkies (1970).” He sang two songs in the film- “Good Times and Bad Times (English)” and “Hari Om Tat Sat.”
He later sang for the Bollywood film “Devi (1970).” He made his Malayalam debut as a singer with the song “Love is Just Around the Corner” for the film “Chattakkari (1974).”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDFXKO5GWsk
Usha made her Tamil debut as a singer with the song “Love Is Beautiful” from the film “Melnattu Marumagal (1975).”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Slfdp8eAQlA
His Telugu debut as a singer was with the album “Keechurallu (1991).” He recorded his first album with Indian Composer, Luis Banks, for which he was paid Rs. 3500.
As an Actor
He made his acting debut with the 1975 Tamil film ‘Melnattu Marumagal.’
He made his Malayalam Debut as an actor with the film “Pothan Vava” in 2006.
He also made a special appearance in “Bombay to Goa” in 1972. He made his Kannada film debut with the film “Parie” in 2012.
Controversy
In 1983, Usha filed a defamation suit against Jatin Chakroborty, the then West Bengal Public Works Minister, after he made several statements about the singer. Jatin had earlier filed a petition to ban Usha from government-owned institutions to protect the traditions and culture of West Bengal from Usha, who he thought was defiling her through her cheesy, disco, deviant culture. Two months later, the High Court ruled in favor of Usha, declaring that she had the right to perform and no restrictions were imposed on her.
Award
- Padma Shri in 2011
Usha Uthup Receives Padma Shri
- Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer for the song “Darling” from the movie “7 Khoon Maaf” in 2011
- Mirchi Music Awards- Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017
Favorite Things
- Food: Bhel Puri, Pani Puri, Rasam, Sambhar, Kali Dal
Facts
- The traditional South Indian upbringing influenced his distinctive appearance; Kanjeevaram saree with coin size bindi.
Usha Uthup In Her Signature
- He knows more than five languages. He considers English as his first language, Hindi as his second language, Marathi, French and Tamil as his third, fourth and fifth languages respectively.
- He has sung in more than 16 Indian languages and six foreign languages.
- When Usha was in school, she was expelled from her music class because of her hoarse voice. Later, his music teacher recognized his interest in music and gave him claps and triangles to play.
- He never had professional training in music but he grew up in a musical environment. His parents used to listen to Classical Western and Carnatic music including singers like Kishori Amonkar and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan on the radio. He used to join them and loved listening to Radio Ceylon.
- Her next door neighbour, daughter of SMA Pathan (deputy commissioner of police) influenced Usha to learn Hindi and take up Indian Classical music.
- She met her husband, Jani Chacko Uthup for the first time at a Calcutta nightclub, Trincas.
- Initially, he was supposed to sing “Dum Maaro Dum” from “Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1971)” with Asha Bhosle but couldn’t do it. According to Usha, she and Asha practiced together for the song but on the day of the recording, Usha was not called. He finally called RD Burman to confirm his schedule and Burman replied that only Asha would sing the song. However, later, he got the chance to sing the English part of the song.
- In 1968, he recorded covers of the pop songs “Jambalaya,” “Greenback Dollar (by The Kingston Trio),” and “Scotch and Soda (by The Kingston Trio)” in English on an EP titled, “Love Story.”
- While he was recording songs for his EP, he also spent some time in London and he regularly visited Vernon Corea’s BBC offices in Langham, London.
- He was also interviewed in one of the popular radio programs called ‘London Sounds Eastern’ broadcast on BBC Radio London.
- In the late 1960s, the then Prime Minister of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta, made Usha an honorary citizen of Kenya.
- He has also sung for two volumes of children’s rhymes “Karadi Rhymes,” an Indian rhyme for Indian Children by Karadi Tales.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umc1O5tVZbY
- He has also served as a judge on reality singing shows like “Bharat Ki Shaan: Singing Star– Season 2 (2012),” “Star Singer,” “The Voice,” and many more.
- He also composed and recorded the song “The Peace Prayer” based on a poem by the former President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam
- He has worked on several government and non-government projects in aid of various social causes such as women’s empowerment, trafficking, child abuse, health problems, etc.
- He loves watching IPL. He supports the Kolkata Knight Riders team.
Usha Uthup Supports Kolkata Knight Riders
- He was associated with Mother Teresa for more than 47 years. Usha meets Teresa for the first time, during her visit to a homeopath named Sr Amy. The singer often stopped to visit Teresa on the way to the recording studio. Mother Teresa would also invite him to sing in her three ashrams, Prem Daan, Shishu Mandir, and Rumah Ibu. Usha has also done many charity concerts for the Missionaries of Charity, especially in Kolkata and still does.
Usha Uthup with Mother Teresa
Categories: Biography
Source: SCHOOL TRANG DAI
