K.S. Chitra

K.S. Chitra counts amongst the most brilliant as well as the most talented playback singers of the country. Known as the 'Nightingale of the South India', she is bestowed with a deep and sweet voice. Transcending all language barriers, she has sung over 11,000 songs in different languages like Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Bengali and Oriya. Read on further to get the full biography cum life history of K S Chitra.

K.S Chitra was born on 27th July 1963, in the capital city of Trivandrum. Since she was born into a family of musicians, she also developed an interest in music. Her first 'guru' was her father, Krishnan Nair, a renowned singer. After winning the cultural talent scholarship at her school, Chitra started learning Carnatic music under Dr. Omanakutty. She completed her B.A. in music from Kerala University and secured third rank. Her career in music started with the movie 'Attahaasam', offered to her by the famous Malayalam music director, Mr. M.G. Radhakrishnan.

Chitra was introduced to the Tamil film industry by the renowned Tamil composer, Illayaraja. Her first Tamil film was 'Nee Thaana Anthan Kuyil'. During the same time, she received an offer from S.P. Venkatesh, for singing in a Hindi film being directed by him. Chitra did her first album in Indipop with Voodoo Rapper. She has also worked with legends like Ustad Sultan Khan (Album Piya Basanthi) and Gulzar (Album Sunset Point). Chitra is married to Vijayashankar and has a daughter named Nandana.

Honors and Awards
K S Chitra is the second Indian woman, after Lata Mangeshkar, to perform at the Royal Albert Hall of London. She has been awarded with the National Award for the best playback singer (female) five times. Chitra also holds the distinction of being the first female playback singer to be honored by all the four South Indian State Governments, as the best playback singer. In Kerala, she has been given the best playback singer award more than 12 times.