Prabodh Chandra Dey was born on 1 May 1919. He was known by his stage name “Manna Dey”. He was an Indian playback singer. He debuted in the film Tamanna in 1942, and went on to record more than 4000 songs from 1942 to 2013. The Government of India privileged him with the Padma Shri in 1971, the Padma Bhushan in 2005 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2007.
Manna Dey sang mostly in Hindi and Bengali; he also recorded songs in numerous other Indian languages. His topmost period in Hindi playback singing is from 1953-1976.
In 1942, Manna Dey attended Krishna Chandra Dey on a visit to Bombay. There he started working as an assistant music director first under Krishna Chandra Dey, and then under Sachin Dev Burman.
Later, he helped other music composers and then started to work autonomously. Although working autonomously as a music director for several Hindi movies, Manna Dey sustained to take musical lessons in Hindustani classical music from Ustad Aman Ali Khan and Ustad Abdul Rahman Khan.
Manna Dey started his career in playback singing with the movie Tamanna, in 1942.
The musical notch was by Krishna Chandra Dey and Manna sang a couple named “Jago Aayee Usha Ponchi Boley Jago” with Suraiya which was an immediate hit. His songs like “O Prem Diwani Sambhal Ke Chalna” from 1944 film Kadambari composed by Anil Biswas, “Dil Churaney Ki Liye from Dur Chaley” (1946) composed by Jafar Khurshid, his pair with Amira Bahee like “E Diniya Jara Suney” from Kamala (1946) and duet song “Aaj Bor Aayee” with Meena Kapoor from 1947 film Chaltey Chaltey became best-sellers in corresponding years. Between 1945-47 many Manna Dey-Rajkumari duets like “Hay Gagan Me Badal Tharey” in 1945 for the film Vikaramaditya, “Aowji Morey” from Insaaf (1946), all 4 duets from the film Geet Govind composed by Pandit Indra – “Kit Ho Nando Kumar”, “Chorr Sakhi Aaj Laj”, “Apney Hi Rang”, “Lalit Labang Lata” from Geet Govind became popular. He sang for 1st time songs composed by Sachin Dev Burman, Upar Gagan Vishal and Duniya Ke Logo in the 1950 movie, Mashal, which became popular and from here his connotation with S.D.Burman began. Its lyrics were written by Kavi Pradeep. In 1952, Manna Dey sang for a Bengali and a Marathi movie with the same name and narrative, Amar Bhupali. This recognized him as a leading playback singer in Bengali films and Marathi films as well by 1953.
In the post-independence epoch, after 1947, Manna Dey was frequently used by music composers Anil Biswas, Shankar Rao Vyas, S.K.Pal, S.D.Burman, Khem Chand Prakash, Mohd.Safi from 1947-57. Dey-Anil Biswas amalgamation gave hit numbers from films like Gajre (1948), Hum Bhi Insaan Hai (1948), Do Sitaare (1951), Hamdard (1953), Mahatma Kabir (1954),Jasoos (1957) and Pardesi (1957). Though Anil Biswas worked with Manna Dey in exact few films but their songs endure famous. He recorded his first duet with Shamshad Begum, who was the Hindi female singer most in demand from 1940-1961, “Phoolon Ka Swapna” in the films Girls School (1949) composed by S.K.Pal. His first duet with the then forthcoming singer Lata Mangeshkar was “Lapat Ke Pot Pahaney Bikral” composed by Vasant Desai for Narsingh Avtar (1949) and with Kishore Kumar, it was “Subaho Ki Paheli Kiran” form 1951 film Anadolan composed by Pannalal Ghosh. His first couple with Geeta Roy (Dutt) was “Dhonyo Dhonyo He Ayodh Puri” from the film Ram Vivah (1949) composed by Shankar Rao Vuas, first duet with Umadevi (Tun Tun) was “Hay Ye Hain” from Jangal Ka Jaanwar (1951) composed by Ghantshala. His first duet with the then stressed singer Asha Bhosle was “O Raat Gayee Fir Din Aya” from 1953 film Bootpolish.
Manna Dey recognized his versatility between 1948-1954 by singing not only the classical built film songs but also singing such film songs which were synthesis of Indian classical music and pop music and by providing classical music concerts. His research with western music too shaped lots of remarkable melodies resulting in an upsurge in singing offers in films from 1955. He began singing ghazals in Hindi films from 1953. He became a music composer in Hindi films once he composed music along with Khemchand Prakash for both Shri Ganesh Janma and Viswamitra in 1951.
Since 1992, he takes out himself from Hindi film music quoting lack of good excellence music and bad pasteurisation. But he sustained to sing in Bengali movies, bhajans and gazals in various languages and focused on giving live enactments from 1992-2012. His last live performance was in 2012 in Mumbai. His last recorded song in Hindi films was for the film Umar in 2006 composed by Shamir Tandon – Duniyawaalo Kee Nahee Kuchh Bhee Khabar which he sang with Kavita Krishnamoorthy, Sonu Nigam. He was presented the Filmfare Life Time Achievement Award in 2011.
He sang duets with singers like Mukesh,Sandhya Mukherjee, Mahendra Kapoor, Talat Mahmood, Amit Kumar, Shailendra Singh, Krishna Kalle, Shardha Rajan Iyengar, Arati Mukherjee, Chandrani Mukherjee, Anuradha Pudwal, Hemlata, Minu Purushottom, Bhupinder Singh, K.J.Yesudas, Suresh Wadkar, Kavita Krishnamoorty, Alka Yagnik, Antara Chowdhury, Preeti Sagar, Dilraj Kaur, Yunus Fazmi,Jaspal Singh, Anwar, Manhar Udhas,Joginder and Mubarak Begum. He sang with singers of each generation in Indian films from 1940-2005. He worked with more than 102 music directors in Hindi film industry from working with Krishna Chandra Dey in Tamanna in 1942 to music composer Shamir Tandon in 2006.
On 8 June 2013, he was admitted to the ICU in a Bengaluru hospital after a chest infection gave increase to other difficulties. On 9 June 2013, there were reports of his death, but the doctors repudiated this in saying that his situation was steady but dangerous, as the infection had led to other difficulties. On 9 July, it was stated that his health was improving and that doctors took him off the ventilator support on the afternoon of 5 July. He died of a cardiac arrest at 3:45 on 24 October at Narayana Hrudayalaya.
Source: Wikipedia
