<Li> Bharat Ratna (2001) </Li> <Li> Legion of Honor (K) (2010) </Li> <P> Lata Mangeshkar (pronunciation (help info)) (born 28 September 1929) is an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer . She is one of the best - known and most respected playback singers in India . Mangeshkar's career started in 1942 and has spanned over seven decades . She has recorded songs for over a thousand Hindi films and has sung songs in over thirty - six regional Indian languages and foreign languages, though primarily in Marathi and Hindi . She is the recipient of three National Film Awards, 12 Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards, four Filmfare Best Female Playback Awards and many more . The Dadasaheb Phalke Award was bestowed on her in 1989 by the Government of India . She is also the second vocalist, after M.S. Subbulakshmi, to have ever been awarded the Bharat Ratna in 2001, India's highest civilian honour . She has four siblings--Asha Bhosle, Hridaynath Mangeshkar, Usha Mangeshkar and Meena Mangeshkar--of which she is the eldest . </P> <P> Lata Mangeshkar was born in a Marathi - speaking Gomantak Maratha family, in the princely state of Indore, part of the Central India Agency (now part of Madhya Pradesh). Her father, Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar, was a classical singer and theatre actor . Her mother Shevanti (Shudhamati) who was from Thalner, Maharashtra, was Deenanath's second wife . The family's last name used to be Hardikar; Deenanath changed it to Mangeshkar in order to identify his family with his native town, Mangeshi in Goa . Lata was named "Hema" at her birth . Her parents later renamed her Lata after a female character, Latika, in one of her father's plays, BhaawBandhan . Lata is the eldest child of her parents . Meena, Asha, Usha and Hridaynath are her siblings in sequence . </P>

Famous indian playback singer. one of the best known and respected playback singers