Veteran playback singer S Janaki, fondly known as the “Nightingale of South India,” passed away at the age of 88, leaving behind an extraordinary legacy that transformed Indian cinema. During her illustrious career spanning six decades, she sang thousands of songs in multiple Indian languages and earned widespread acclaim for her versatility.
Born on April 23, 1938, in Pallapatla village of present-day Andhra Pradesh, Janaki was the daughter of Ayurvedic doctor and teacher Sistla Sreeramamurthy. She spent much of her childhood in Sircilla and gave her first stage performance at the age of nine. Though she learnt the basics of music from Nadaswaram exponent Paidiswamy, she never underwent formal classical music training.
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In 1959, she married V Ramprasad, who remained a constant support throughout her musical career until his death in 1997. Telugu was her mother tongue, but she was fluent in Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi.
Janaki began her playback singing career at 19 with the Tamil film Vidhiyin Vilayattu (1957) and soon established herself as one of India’s most celebrated voices. She retired from playback singing and live performances in 2016, before briefly returning in 2018 to record a song for the Tamil film Pannaadi.
A recipient of four National Film Awards and 33 State Film Awards, Janaki also made headlines in 2013 when she declined the Padma Bhushan, stating that the honour had come too late. She maintained that her contribution to Indian music deserved the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award. Her passing marks the end of an era in Indian playback singing.
