Born on July 22, 1923, to Chand and Rani Mathur of Delhi, Mukesh had a unique voice. He was the sixth of 10 children. From his earliest years, he was fond of music. Mukesh used to listen to the music classes conducted by his sister in his house and began imitating the great singer K L Saigal.
After his studies Mukesh worked in Delhi. He was noticed by actor Motilal when he sang a song during his sister’s marriage. Motilal took him to Mumbai and arranged for training classes under the guidance of Pandit Jagannath Prasad.
Mukesh got his first break in acting with the Hindi movie Nirdosh (1941). And he got a chance to sing, for the first time, in Pehli Nazar (1945). He again attempted to be a star, by acting in two films Mashooka (1953), and Anuraag (1956), but it was a failure.
One of Mukesh’s popular songs of that time was ‘Suhana safar aur yeh mausam’ from the film, Madhumati.
Mukesh, in association with director Raj Kapoor, produced some of the greatest film songs in the Hindi film industry. These included hits from Awara (1951), Shree 420 (1955), Anadi (1959), Sangam (1964) and Mera Naam Joker (1972).
Mukesh sang for almost all the leading actors of yesteryears. His co-singers were Lata Mangeshkar, Shamsad Begam, Surayya and Asha Bhosle. Mukesh was one part of the golden trio of Mohammad Rafi and Kishore Kumar.
Mukesh died suddenly of a heart attack in Detroit on August 27, 1976, while he was on a concert tour of the United States of America.
Chanchal sheetal nirmal komal’ from the film, Satyam Shivam Sundaram, was the last recorded song of Mukesh.
He received a national award for best playback singer in 1974 for the song, ‘Kai baar yun hi dekha hai’ from the film Rajnigandha and Film Fare awards for Anadi (1959), Pehchan (1970), Baiman (1972) and Kabhi Kabhi (1976). He is still cherished by fans all over the world.