Lata Mangeshkar, legendary Indian singer, dies at 92

By SHEIKH SAALIQ
Associated Press

NEW DELHI (AP) — Lata Mangeshkar, a legendary Indian singer with a prolific, groundbreaking catalog and a voice recognized by more than a billion people in South Asia, has died. She was 92. She was hospitalized on Jan. 11 after contracting COVID-19. Over the course of nearly eight decades, Mangeshkar was a major presence as a playback singer, singing songs that were later lip-synced by actors in India’s lavish Bollywood musicals. She was fondly revered as the “Melody Queen” and “Nightingale of India.” She received a state funeral Sunday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined thousands of movie stars and politicians in Mumbai’s iconic Shivaji Park where she was cremated amid the chanting of vedic hymns and a special gun salute. India declared two days of national mourning.