Swarnalatha Biography 
Swarnalatha was a leading voice in Indian playback singing. She died at a younger age of 37 while she was at the peak of her career. A. R. Rahman was the music director who recognized the power of voice of this talented singer and many memorable songs have born in this combination. She won her single National award for best playback singing in Rahman’s composition too. She was the first female playback singer to fetch the National Award in A. R. Rahman's music . The song was "Porale Ponnuthayi" from the film Karuththamma, a village story, theme based on killing girl kids soon after birth. Most memorable Bollywood songs in this combination include – hay rama yeh kya hua of Rangeela (1995), Muquala muquabla of Hum se hai muquabla (1995), Ladka diya hai humne of Hindustani (1996) and Sunta hai mera khuda of Pukar (2000).
Her popular tracks of Tamil in Rahman composition are Evano oruvan of Alaippayuthey (2000), "Akkadannu nanga" and “maya machinda” from Indian (1996) and "Ulunthu vidaikayile" from Mudhalvan (1999). Her top songs with Ilayaraja’s music are "Povomma Oorkolam" from Chinna Thambi, "Rakkama Kaiya Thattu" from the movie Thalapathi (1991) and "Aattama Therottama" from Captain Prabhakaran. All these Tamil songs were immensely popular and won her numerous awards at different award functions as well. She won Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Female Playback award thrice and Cinema express award four times. In 1994 she received Kalaimamani Award by the Government of Tamil Nadu for her contributions towards Tamil music. The song "Rakkama Kaiya Thattu" from the movie Thalapathi was among the songs listed in a BBC World Top Ten music poll, conducted in the year 2002.
Swarnalatha was given the first break by legendary music composer M S Viswanathan when she was only 14. The film was Needhikku Thandanai. She recorded the song "Chinnanchirukiliye Kannamma" aside K. J. Yesudas. Later Ilaiyaraaja and Rahman gave her a long list of finest tunes, for which Swarnalatha is still remembered by her fans. Swarnalatha died at a private hospital in Chennai at the age of 37 due to cardiac arrest following lung infection.
Published: N/A
Updated: January 09, 2014
