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Ghazal singer Jagjit Singh, 70, underwent a surgery at Lilavati Hospital in Bandra on Friday after he suffered a brain haemorrhage. Doctors at the hospital performed an emergency surgery on Singh. His condition was described as "critical" and doctors continued to monitor him in the intensive care unit. He is breathing with the aid of a ventilator.

Born on February 8, 1941, ‘the ghazal king’ was a singer, composer, activist and entrepreneur. He has sung in several languages including Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi and Nepali. Jagjit Singh entered the music circuit at a time which was primarily dominated by Pakistani ghazal singers, and Indian singers were considered relatively lesser authentic than their Pakistani counterparts.

He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2003.

Recipient of Padma Bhushan award, Jagjit Singh was the man behind making the ghazal genre available and understandable to all. Prior to Singh, ghazal singing was considered as an elite art, which was difficult for the common mass to understand due to high class Urdu and Persian.

Jagjit Singh broke this myth by coming up with songs such as ‘Kaagaz ki kashti’, ‘Chaak jigar ke’, ‘Kal chadhanvi ki raat thi’, and ‘Shaam se aankh me name si hai’. He mixed the words of legends like Ghalib, Qateel Shifai, Firaq Gorakhpuri, Nida Fazli and Sudarshan Faakir with melodious indigenous tunes and achieved a state where nothing came in between him and his listeners.

On May 10, 2007, in a milestone joint session held in the historic Central Hall of India’s Parliament (Sansad Bhawan), Jagjit Singh rendered the last Moghul Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar’s famous ghazal "Lagta nahin hai dil mera" to commemorate the 150th anniversary of India’s First War of Independence (1857). President A P J Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and dignitaries including former Prime Ministers, Members of Parliament, Foreign Ambassadors and High Commissioners were in attendance.

Popularly known as the ‘Ghazal King’, Singh gained acclaim together with his wife, singer Chitra Singh. The couple was considered to be pioneers of modern Ghazal singing and regarded as most successful recording artistes outside the realm of Indian film music.

Chitra stopped giving public performances after their only son, Vivek, died in a road accident in the early 1990s. But Singh continued to charm audiences, singing with equal ease in Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Gujrati, Sindhi and Nepali languages.

Jagjit Singh was born in Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan to Amar Singh Dhiman, a government employee, a native of Dalla village in Punjab (India) and his mother, Bachan Kaur from Ottallan village, Samrala. He had four sisters and two brothers and he was known as Jeet by his family. He was raised as a Sikh by religion.

Jagjit Singh was first offered to sing in a Gujarati Film. "Dharati Na Chhoru" produced by Mr. Suresh Amin, famously known by Jagjit Singh as "Jholi Vaaley Baba" : known so, because he carried a Red Shoulder Bag wherever he went. Mr Suresh Amin was from Baroda-Gujarat and was associated with Scad Consultants Pvt Ltd. When, Mr Suresh Amin died in 1998 and Scad Consultants, Baroda, Organized a Live Concert by Jagjit singh in December 1998 – Jagjit Singh [Famously Called by friends as Maharaj] paid a special Tribute to Mr Suresh Amin and dedicated the Scad Consultants Concert to Mr Suresh Amin by Singing the song " Chitthi Na Koi Sandesh ", the perfect song to match his unawareness of Suresh Amin’s Death.

Jagjit Singh is accredited with finding a famous singer of modern times Kumar sanu. Sanu himself confessed that Jagjit singh offered him the first chance to sing. In addition to cultivating his own successful career, Jagjit Singh has been involved in guiding many new, talented singers such as Abhijeet, Talat Aziz, Ghanshyam Vaswani, Ashok Khosla, Siza Roy, Vikram Singh, and Vinod Sehgal. He also lends active support to several philanthropic endeavors such as the Library at St. Mary’s (Mumbai), Bombay Hospital, CRY, and ALMA (an organization that adopts under-privileged students for further education and development). He assisted Peta India in asking the Minister of Railways to enforce speed restrictions to prevent further elephant deaths from collisions with speeding trains.

Before this illness, his last major concert was held on 16th September, 2011 in Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai. His last concert was held on Saturday 17th September,2011 in Siri Fort Auditorium, New Delhi. He passed away on 10 October 2011(8 am) at the age of 70 in Mumbai at Lilavati hospital after a prolonged illness.

He passed away on 10th October 2011 (8.00 am) after a brief treatment for brain haemorrhage.

Ghazals

There are many successful ghazals composed by Jagjit Singh. Some of them are listed below:-

• Yaarian Rab Kar Ke (Sang for Shiv K. Batalvi)
• Umr Jalwon mein basar ho
• Der lagi aane mein tumko
• Apni aankho ke samundar mein utar jaane de
• Koi paas aayaa sawere-sawere
• Apne hothon par sajaana chaahta hoon
• Meri zindagi kisi aur ki, mere naam ka koi aur hai
• Apne haathon kee lakeeron mein
• Sadma to hai mujhe bhi ke tujhse juda hoon main
• Aadmi aadmi ko kya degaa
• Haath chhooten bhi to
• Garaj baras pyaasi dharthi par phir paani de maula
• Apni marzi se kahan apne safar ke hum hain
• Ik barahman ne kaha hai
• Main na hindu na musalmaan mujhe jeene do
• Kaise kaise haadse sehte rahe
• Wo jo hum mein tumme qaraar tha
• Patta-patta boota-boota haal hamaara jaane hai
• Chak jigar ke see lete hain
• Main bhool jaaoon tumhe, ab yahi munaasib hai
• Jaate jaate wo mujhe achchhi nishaani de gaya
• Shaam se aankh mein namin si hai
• Tere baare mein jab socha nahin thaa
• Tere aane ki jab khabar mehke
• Tamanna fir machal jaaye agar tum milne aa jaao
• Ab main ration ki kataron mein nazar aata hoon
• Tujhse milne ki saza denge tere shehar ke log
• Patthar ke khuda, patthar ke sanam
• Huzoor aapka bhi ahtraam karta chaloon
• Din aa gaye sabaab ke aanchal sambhaaliye
• Gulshan ki faqat phoolon se nahin kaaton se bhi zeenat hoti hai
• Baat saaqi ki na taali jaayegi
• Roshan jamal-e-yaar se hai anjuman tamaam
• Tera chehra kitna suhaana lagta hai
• Tum nahin, gham nahin sharaab nahin
• Sarakti jaaye hain rukh se naqaab aahistaa-aahista
• Ae khuda ret ke sehra ko samandar kar de
• Yeh daulat bhi le lo, yeh shohrat bhi le lo
• Hoshwalo ko khabar
• Honthon se chhoo lo tum
• Koi yeh kaise bataye
• Tere khat
• Bahut khoobsurat hai
• Kiska Chehera
• Kal chodvi ki raat thi
• Baat niklegi to
• Der laagi ane mein tumko
• Main nashe mein hoon
• Pyar mujhse jo kiya tumne
• Tera chehera hai aaeene jaisa
• Chitthi na koi sandesh
• Tum itna jo muskura rahe ho
• Jab se kareeb ho kay chale zindagi se hum
• Koi fariyaad
• Kahin duur jab din
• Kehta hai baabul
• Jhuki jhuki si nazar
• Tumko dekha to yeh khayal
• Sehma sehma
• Yaad kiya dil ne kaha ho tum
• Aap ko dekh kar
• Jab saamne tum
• Hazaron khwaishe aisi
• Ya to mit jaaeeye ya mita deejiye
• Tere aane ki jab khabar mehke
• woh khat ke purje jala raha tha
• tum ye kaise khafa ho gaye
• hum to hai perdes mein desh mein
• Jeevan Maran Chhe Ek (in Gujarati)
• Woh kaaghaz ki kashti
• Badi Najuk he ye manzil mohabbat ka safar he

Song for films

Ghazal albums

• The Unforgettables (1976)
• Birha Da Sultan(Shiv Kumar Batalvi) Jagjit & Chitra (1978
• Live in Pakistan (1979)
• A Milestone (1980)
• Main aur Meri Tanhaayee (1981)
• The Latest (1982)
• Ae mere Dil (1983)
• Live at Royal Albert Hall ª(1983)
• Ecstasies (1984)
• A Sound Affair (1985)
• Echoes (1985–86)
• Beyond Time (1987)
• Mirza Ghalib (Two Volumes) (1988), TV Serial Directed by Gulzar
• Passion / Black Magic (1988)
• Ghazals from Films (1989)
• Emotions
• Man Jite Jagjit (1990)
• Memorable Ghazals of Jagjit and Chitra (1990)
• Someone Somewhere (1990)
• H O P E (1991)
• Sajda (Two Volumes with Lata Ji) (1991)
• Kahkashan (Two Volumes) (1991–92), TV Serial Directed by Jalal Agaa
• Visions (Two Volumes) (1992)
• In Search (1992)
• Rare Gems (1992)
• Face to face (1993)
• Your Choice (1993)
• Chiraag (1993)
• Desires (1994)
• Insight (1994)
• Cry for Cry (1995)
• Mirage
• Unique (1996)
• Come Alive in a Concert (1998 (CD))
• Live at the Wembley
• Love is Blind (1998)
• Silsilay (1998) (Lyrics by Javed Akhtar)
• Marasim (1999) (Lyrics by Gulzar)
• jaam utha(1999)
• Saher (2000)
• Samvedna 2002 (Atal Behari Vajpayee’s poetry))
• Soz (2002) (Lyrics by Javed Akhtar)
• Forget Me Not (2002)
• Muntazir (2004)
• Jeevan Kya Hai (2005)
• Tum To Nahin Ho (Lyrics by Bashir Badr) (2005)
• Life Story (2006)
• Best of Jagjit & Chitra Singh (includes Mere Darwaaze Se Ab Chand Ko Ruksat Kar do by Ali Sardar Jaffrey)
• Koi Baat Chale (Lyrics by Gulzar)
• Jazbaat(2008)
• Inteha (2009)(Promoted on Banoo Main Teri Dulhann)
• Aeena (2009)
• Vakratunda Mahakaya (2009)

His Nepali Ghazal ‘Kun Maya Sadar Bho, Mero maya badar bho…’ [which
love has been granted, my love has been disproved] is a big hit… some other songs in the same album are romantic songs sung with Sadhana Sargam which are ‘not his type.’

Awards

• In 2003, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, one of India’s highest civilian honours, by the Government of India
• In 2006, he was also presented the Teacher’s Achievement Awards

Source: wikipedia