Krishna Kalle

Childhood

Krishna was from Karwar, Uttara Kannada. As her father were serving at Kanpur, she completed her schooling from Kanpur itself. She got the sanskar of Hindi and Urdu over there. At the age of 16, she started singing at Kanpur Radio Station. She sung in various Yatra singeet mahotsav in Uttar Pradesh and got popularity.

Career

Krishna came to Mumbai to visit relatives. Arun Date first heard her voice. He introduced her to music director Yashwant Dev. This started her journey as Marathi singer. She bagged a national level singing award in 1957 and got a job with All India Radio in 1960. She was active in the Hindi film industry for about a decade from 1960s to the 1970s. She debuted her singing in Kannada films in 1969.She sang over 200 Bollywood songs, 100 Marathi movie songs, 2 Kannada film songs, 100 bhajans, ghazals and devotional songs, according to a statement. She sang for several Hindi, Marathi films and released non-film albums with renounced singers like Manna Dey, Mohammed Rafi.

Krishna Kalle has been named for the ‘Lata Mangeshkar Award for Lifetime Achievement’ instituted by the Maharashtra government. The award by the state culture department carry a cash reward of Rs.5,00,000, a citation, a trophy and a shawl.

Famous Songs in Hindi

1. "Sochta Hoon Ke Tumhen Maine Kahin Dekha Hai" ("Raaz", 1967)
2. "Chakkar Chalaye Ghanchakkar" ("Do Dooni Char", 1968).
3. Hume Toh Maar Diya

Famous Songs in Marathi

1. परिकथेतील राजकुमारा (Parikathtil Rajkumara)
2. मन पिसाट माझे अडले रे (Man Pisaat Majhe)
3. मैनाराणी चतुर शहाणी (Mainarani Chatur Shahani)
4. गोडगोजिरी लाज लाजरी (Godgojiri laj lajiri)
5. कामापुरता मामा (Kamapurta Mama)
6. उठ शंकरा, सोड समाधी (Uth Shankara, sod Samadhi)

Kannada songs

1. "ಒಂದೊಂದಾಗಿ ಜಾರಿದರೆ ("Ondondagi jaaridare" - solo - Kalpavruksha movie)
2. "ಜಯತೆ ಜಯತೆ" ( "Jayathe jayathe" - with Manna Dey and Ambar kumar - Kalpavruksha movie)

Awards

1. In 1957 National level youth singing awards by India’s first president Rajendra Prasad and first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
2. In 1958 , she bagged the All India Sugam Sangeet Award first prize, K.L. Sehgal Memorial’s Golden Voice Award and many others.
3. 1965, Golden voice if India
4. In 2014, she was awarded the Lata Mangeshkar Jeevan Gaurav Puraskar by Maharashtra government.

Death

She died on 15 March 2015 after a brief illness in Mumbai, aged 74.