Playback legend Manna Dey, who was critical for long, died on Thursday morning. He was 94.
The legendary singer was undergoing treatment for neuro-respiratory problems. He also has kidney functioning problems for which he is undergoing dialysis.
Born in Kolkata, he settled down in Bangalore after living in Mumbai for five decades.
Dey, who started his playback career in 1943, has sung nearly 3,500 songs in Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada and Assamese films.
Dey began with film Tamanna (1943) and had his first hit in Mashaal (1950), with an S D Burman solo, in a career that would see him record a duet with Bhimsen Joshi as well as bequeath generations of Indians “Yeh Dosti” (Sholay).
Well-versed in Hindustani classical music, Dey’s hit numbers include songs like ‘Puchho na kaise’, ‘aye meri zoharajabi’, ‘Laga chunri mein daag’ and ‘Pyaar hua ikrar hua’.
(With PTI inputs)
