Usha Uthup

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Usha Uthup
Background = solo_singer


Img_capt =
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Alias = Usha Iyer, Didi
Birth_name =
Born = flagicon|India India birth date and age|1947|11|8
Died =
Instrument = Vocalist
Voice_type =
Genre = Pop, playback singing
Occupation = Singer
Years_active = 1966-present

Usha Uthup is a popular Indian pop singer. She was well known for popular hits in the late 1960s,1970s and 1980s. Her maiden name is Usha Iyer.

Usha Uthup has sung in 14 Indian languages including Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, Assamese, Oriya, Gujarati, Marathi, Konkani, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu. She can also sing in several foreign languages including Dutch, French, German, Italian, Sinhalese, Swahili, Russian, Nepalese, Arabic, Creole, Zulu, Spanish and English. [ [http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020520/cth2.htm#5 Musically stronger than ever] . The Tribune, Chandigarh. May 20, 2002.]

Early life

Usha Uthup lives in Calcutta. She grew up in Park Circus, near Mayfair Road. Her father Sami Iyer was the police commissioner of Bombay. She has three sisters (Uma Pocha, Indira Srinivasan and Maya Sami), all of whom are singers. Her Maiden name is Usha Iyer.She is married to Jani Uthup.

She was a frequent visitor to Vernon Corea's BBC office at the Langham in London and was interviewed on "London Sounds Eastern" on BBC Radio London. In 1968 she recorded covers of two pop songs in English, Jambalaya and the Kingston Trio's Greenback Dollar, on an EP, Scotch and Soda which sold very well in the Indian market. She appeared in disguise on Indian Idol 1 and 2. She is one of the co-judges of a reality show in Malayalam called Idea Star Singer 2007 and Idea Star Singer 2008.

Film singing

Usha Uthup sang several songs in the 1970s and 1980s for music directors R D Burman and Bappi Lahiri. She also reprised some of R.D. Burman songs that were sung by others such as Mehbooba Mehbooba and Dum Maro Dum and popularised them to a distinct end. Some of her famous songs for movies (and associated music directors) include:

Recordings

Usha's Hindi version of Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough", titled '"Chhupke Kaon Aya'", can be found on the album "Tom Middleton - The Trip" (2004). A cover of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" is on another Tom Middleton album, "Cosmosonica - Tom Middleton Presents Crazy Covers Vol. 1" (2005). She recently recorded a song called "Rhythm and Blues" with the Indian Rock Band Parikrama which appeared on Channel V on April 23rd 2007.

Fashion style

Usha's trademark is her massive bindi and her gajra (garland) that she wears in her head, as well as her Kancheepuram saris.

Acting career

Usha Uthup is also an actress, often singing and acting in India's signature musical films. She acted in "Pothen Vava" a Malayalam movie in 2006 with Mammootty in the lead. She did the role of his mother.

She made a cameo appearance in the movie "Bombay To Goa" with Amitabh Bachchan and Shatrughan Sinha in 1972.

Nominations

* Filmfare Nomination as Best Female Playback Singer for the song "One Two Cha ChaCha" from Shalimar (film) (1978)
* Filmfare Nomination as Best Female Playback Singer for the song "Hari Om Hari" from Pyare Dushman (1980)
* Filmfare Nomination as Best Female Playback Singer for the song "Rambha Ho" from Armaan (1981 film) (1981) [ [http://deep750.googlepages.com/FilmfareAwards.pdf 1st Filmfare Awards 1953 ] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.ushauthup.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0412683/ IMDb entry]