| Birth name | Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Piya Basanti of North India[1] Nightingale of South India[1] Melody Queen of Indian Cinema[2] Little Nightingale of India[1] Vanambadi in Kerala[2] Chinna Kuyil in Tamil Nadu[1] Kannada kogile in Karnataka[2] Sangeeta Saraswathi in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana[2] |
| Born | 27 July 1963 Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India |
| Genres | Playback singing, Carnatic music, Hindustani music |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1979–present |
Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra, often credited as K. S. Chithra or simply Chithra, is an Indian playback singer from Kerala. Chithra also sings Indian classical, devotional, and popular music. She has sung in a number of Indian languages as well as Urdu, Latin, Arabic, Sinhalese and English. She has recorded more than 25,000 Songs for various films and albums. She is a recipient of six National Film Awards, seven Filmfare Awards South and 34 different state film awards. She has won all the four south Indian state film awards.[3] She was honored with India‘s civilian honor Padma Shri[4] in 2005. She is considered to be the first Indian woman to be honoured by House Of Commons, British Parliament, United Kingdom.[5] She is considered to be the only South Indian female singer who presented her maiden concert in the world’s prestigious concert hall Royal Albert Hall in London[5]. She is considered to be the only singer from India who was honoured in QinghaiInternational Music and Water Festival by the Government of China. Her song “Kannalane/Kehna Hi Kya” from the film Bombay (1995) was included in The Guardian‘s “1000 Songs Everyone Must Hear” list.[5] Chithra is referred to as Chinna Kuyil (English: Little Nightingale) or Keralathinte Vanambadi (English: Nightingale of Kerala) or Nightingale of South India.[6]
