Usha Uthup

Biography

Usha Iyer Uthup (born 8 November 1947) is an Indian singer known for her deep contralto voice and her versatility across genres and languages. A prominent figure in Indian music since the 1970s, she has received a Filmfare Award, and was honoured by the Government of India with the Padma Shri in 2011 and the Padma Bhushan in 2024 for her contribution in the field of arts.

Personal life

Usha was born on 8 November 1947 into a Tamil family in Mumbai. Her father was Vaidyanath Someshwar Sami Iyer.
She studied at St. Agnes High School, Byculla. When she was in school she was thrown out of music class because she didn't fit in with a voice like hers. But her music teacher recognized that she had some music in her and would give her clappers or triangles to play. Even though she was not formally trained in music, she grew up in an atmosphere of music. Her parents used to listen to a wide range from Western classical to Hindustani and Carnatic including Kishori Amonkar and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan on radio and she used to join them. She used to enjoy listening to Radio Ceylon.
Her next door neighbor was S.M.A. Pathan, who was then the deputy commissioner of police. His daughter, Jamila, influenced Usha to learn Hindi and take up Indian classical music. This fusion approach helped her to pioneer her unique brand of Indian pop in the 1970s.
She was married to Jani Chacko Uthup who hailed from the Manarcaud Painumkal family of Kottayam. They have a daughter Anjali and a son Sunny, named after the song, "Sunny". Her husband, Jani Chacko, died due to a cardiac arrest on 8 July 2024.

Career

Usha Uthup's first public singing occurred when she was nine. Her sisters, who were already exploring a career in music, introduced her to Ameen Sayani, then the most popular radio announcer in India. Ameen Sayani gave her an opportunity to sing in the Ovaltine Music Hour of Radio Ceylon. She sang a number called "Mockingbird Hill". After that, several appearances followed through her teenage years.

Singing career

Uthup started her music career in Chennai in 1969, singing in a small nightclub called Nine Gems in the basement of the erstwhile Safire Theatre complex on Mount Road, wearing a saree and leg calipers. Her performance was so well received that the owner of the nightclub asked her to stay on for a week. After her first night club gig, she began singing in Calcutta at night clubs such as Trincas. She met her future husband, Jani Chacko Uthup, in Trincas . At about the same time, she also sang at "Talk of the Town", now known as "Not Just Jazz by the Bay" in Bombay (now Mumbai). After Trincas, her next engagement took her to Delhi where she sang at the Oberoi hotels. By happenstance, a film crew belonging to Navketan unit and Dev Anand visited the nightclub and they offered her a chance to sing movie playback. As a result, she started her Bollywood career with Ivory-Merchant's Bombay Talkie (1970) in which she sang an English number under Shankar-Jaikishan and subsequently also sang for the soundtrack for the film Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1971). Originally, she was supposed to sing "Dum Maro Dum" along with Asha Bhosle for Hare Rama Hare Krishna. However, as a result of internal politics on the part of other singers, she lost that chance but ended up singing an English verse.
In 1968, she recorded covers of two pop songs in English, "Jambalaya" and The Kingston Trio's "Greenback Dollar", on an EP, Love Story, and "Scotch and Soda", another Kingston Trio song, which sold very well in the Indian market. She also spent some time in London during this early period. She was a frequent visitor to Vernon Corea's BBC office at the Langham in London and was interviewed on London Sounds Eastern on BBC Radio London.
Usha visited Nairobi as part of an Indian festival. She was so popular that she was invited to stay on. Singing and quite often nationalistic songs in Swahili made her extremely popular and the then President Jomo Kenyatta made her an Honorary Citizen of Kenya. She sang the famous song "Malaika" ('Angel') with Fadhili Williams who was the original singer. She produced a record "Live in Nairobi" with a local band Fellini Five.
Uthup sang several songs in the 1970s and 1980s for music directors R. D. Burman and Bappi Lahiri. She also reprised some of R. D. Burman songs that were sung by others such as "Mehbooba Mehbooba" and "Dum Maro Dum" and popularised them to a distinct end.
Uthup also sang for a two-volume collection of children's rhymes "Karadi Rhymes", which are "Indian Rhymes for Indian Kids", brought out by Karadi Tales (www.karaditales.com). The rhymes reflect the Indian ethos through the Sa-re-ga-ma, mangoes, Indian rivers, the train experiences, Indian festivals, indigenous trees, Cricket, Indian foods like bhelpuri and sambhar, Indian attire like the dhoti, sari, bindi and bangles and even some folk tales. With each rhyme set to an Indian raga, and sung in her characteristic voice with a feisty tempo, Usha creates the atmosphere for children and, surprisingly, even adults to sing along and dance to the toe-tapping beats.
She appeared as a judge on the second season of the singing reality show Bharat Ki Shaan: Singing Star (2012), aired on DD National channel, along with Ismail Darbar. She returned as the judge for the next season of the show as well. She also appeared as a chief guest for Marathi singing reality show. She entertained the audience with Marathi songs. She was also a judge in the first season of Star Vijay's Airtel Super Singer Junior and Airtel Super Singer 5. She appeared on The Kapil Sharma Show on 26 May 2019.
She is a stage performer and gives performances all over the world and is known for her lively stage presence. Uthup has been felicitated with several awards over the years, some of which include Rajiv Gandhi Purashkar for National Integration for quality music, Mahila Shiromani Puraskar for International Peace, and Channel V Award for Outstanding Achievement.
She recorded her first album with Luis Banks for which she was paid Rs. 3500. Since then, she has recorded numerous albums. Usha's Hindi version of Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough", titled "Chhupke Kaon Aya", can be found on the album Tom Middleton – The Trip (2004). A cover of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" is on another Tom Middleton album, Cosmosonica – Tom Middleton Presents Crazy Covers Vol. 1 (2005). She recorded a song called "Rhythm and Blues" with the Indian rock band Parikrama which appeared on Channel V on 23 April 2007. Uthup received a lot of recognition for having a unique voice that ranges between contralto and alto.

Acting career

Uthup is also an actress. In 2006, she acted in the Malayalam movie Pothan Vava as Kurisuveettil Mariamma.
She made a cameo appearance in the movie Bombay To Goa. In 2007, she appeared in Bow Barracks Forever directed by Anjun Dutt as herself. Again in 2007, she appeared in Hattrick music video as herself.
She appeared in disguise on Indian Idol 1 and 2. She was one of the co-judges of the 2007 and 2008 and Idea Star Singer Season V (2010).
She has a minor role in the 2010 Tamil movie Manmadan Ambu.
She acted in Vishal Bhardwaj's 7 Khoon Maaf as a maid. She also sung a song in the film, "Darling", which released on 18 February 2011. In 2012, she has starred in a Kannada film Parie.
In 2019, she appeared in the documentary If Not for You for which, she recorded a cover of "Blowin' in the Wind" by legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan.

Civilian awards

Padma Shri - 2011 – Fourth Highest Civilian Award presented by Government of India
Padma Bhushan - 2024 – Third Highest Civilian Award presented by Government of India