Born in Calcutta, Alka Yagnik is the daughter of Shubha Yagnik, a classical singer who could not continue to sing due to a thoat problem. Her mother, like all mothers, always wanted her daughter to achieve what she had been deprived of. She knew music ran in her blood when Alka would need a radio to sleep. Alka went through rigorous music training at a very early age under a series of teachers and gurus. Her talent was noticed early on, and she was singing bhajans and some simple songs for All India Radio in Calcutta at an age as early as six! Alka won a lot of singing competitions, including a Sugam Sangeet competition in Calcutta. Developing her talent through school and college under the able guidance of her mother, she was soon prompted to move to Bombay to try her luck with playback singing. The competition in this arena was really fierce and Alka had little hope of making it anywhere with her singing. However, She thought about it and decided to give herself a chance. Music directors Kalyanji and Anandji took her under their wing but advised her mother, who had brought her, to wait till her voice matured and try for a career only as an adult singer, as Alka was just ten then. On a subsequent visit, she got a letter of introduction to Raj Kapoor from his Calcutta distributor. Raj Kapoor heard Alkas` voice and sent her with a letter to Laxmikant. Impressed, Laxmikant gave her two alternatives, either to immediately start as a dubbing artist, or to come back later, when her voice had matured, as a full fledged singer. The Yagniks settled for the latter. In early 1979, Alka got to sing a few lines in Rajshri’s `Payal Ki Jhankar`. The first full-fledged song that she got to sing was ‘Hum Tum Rahenge’, a duet with Amit Kumar for Rajesh Roshan in the film `Hamari Bahu Alka`. The film was, however, delayed and her first release turned out to be ‘Mere Angne mein’, the folk song adopted by Kalyanji-Anandji in Laawaris (1981). Around this time, Alka also recorded her first song for Laxmikant-Pyarelal called ‘Jaldi Se Aa’, in Jeevan Dhara (1982) with Anuradha Paudwal and Kavita Krishnamurty. Alka got more offers later on, and she ended up recording songs for Rajesh Roshan in `Sannata` and `Kaamchor` (the hit ‘Tumse Badhkar Duniya Mein’ with Kishore Kumar), Usha Khanna (Hotel and other films), R. D. Burman (Namkeen) and many more songs for Kalyanji-Anandji (Itni Si Baat, Yeh Rishta Na Toote, Khush Naseeb, Taqdeer, Nastik) and Laxmikant-Pyarelal (Badle Ki Aag, Teri Maang Sitaron Se Bhar Doon, Coolie). Although Alka kept singing regularly in films for most of the top music directors and veterans like Shankar, Ravi, Chitragupta and the then newcomers like Anu Malik and Anand Milind, real hits eluded her. In 1988 she got her real breakthrough with the song that was to be ranked among the greatest and most evergreen cult songs and launch Madhuri Dixits` career...‘Ek Do Teen’ from the film `Tezaab` for the duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal. When the film `Tezaab` came her way, there was no looking back... Alka went on to sing for super hits like Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Deewana, Akele Hum Akele Tum, Baazigar, Karan Arjun, Criminal, Raja Hindustani, Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke, Refugee - the list goes on and on... And when Javed Akhtar, poet and lyricist extraordinaire worked on his project Tum Yaad Aaye, it was again her voice that graced the album. By 1991-1992, Alka had established herself as one of the busiest singers on the block... a position she still holds today inspite of all the competition from both veterans as well as newcomers, thus establishing her as the next all-rounder after Lata and Asha, and probably the prime singer of choice for heroines. Today, her list of actresses spans from Rekha, Sharmila Tagore and Rakhee and all the way to Rani Mukherjee, Preity Zinta, Amisha Patel and even Kareena Kapoor! There is no significant composer she has not sung for. Besides consistently being the first and most frequent choice of names like Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Anand-Milind, Nadeem-Shravan, Anu Malik, Rajesh Roshan and Jatin-Lalit, Alka has also sung for newcomers like Vishal, Anand Raaj Anand, Himesh Reshammiya, Sajid-Wajid, Ismail Darbar, Sanjeev Darshan and many more. Sure, you`ll remember her for the unforgettable rendition of the 1980s hit, Ek do teen, from the movie Tezaab, but that`s not her best work by any standards, and Alka Yagnik is now often referred to as the next reigning queen of Hindi film music... after Lata Mangeshkar, of course!