Asha Puthli

Asha Puthli Biography

Asha Puthli is a former singer-songwriter, producer and actress, based in Mumbai. A pioneer of fusion she has been most active in the era of 1970s, when she got associated with independent music. Puthli starred in lead roles in Merchant Ivory's Savages and Bruno Corbucci's The Gang That Sold America in the 1970s. Her song "Space Talk" from the 1970s was popular those days. It was later sampled by P.Diddy, The Notorious B.I.G., Dilated Peoples, Governor featuring 50 Cent, and Redman. Asha Puthli in 1973 was her first musical album.

Asha was born and brought up in Mumbai. She was born in the year 1945. She was initiated to Hindustani music at a very young age and she also learnt opera. Since young she used to listen to jazz and pop music on the radio, and the fusion music fascinated her a lot. After winning a singing competition at the age of 13, she got encouraged to take music journey as serious. She also made a local jazz band with performed locally. She later completed her BSc. from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. She received a dance scholarship from Martha Graham which helped to move to New York.

Very soon she was signed by John H. Hammond at Columbia for CBS Records. She was the lead female voice of the Peter Ivers Blues Band's cover version of "Ain't That Peculiar" which received rave reviews. Then she recorded two songs - "What Reason Could I Give" and "All My Life" for the album Science Fiction (1971) for Ornette Coleman. Slowly her popularity grew in UK and US, and other parts of the world. She released her first independent album, Asha Puthli in 1973 followed by She Loves to Hear the Music, The Devil is Loose, Asha: The New Beat of Nostalgia etc apart from numerous singles.

Published: February 26, 2019

Updated: February 26, 2019