Voice that launched a thousand careers

Sukhwinder Singh is the most distinctive singer to emerge from Punjab. His voice is known by millions and he's lent his talent to more than 50 Bollywood albums. Few, however, would recognise

his face.

'I sing for Hindi film heroes as a playback singer - so it's their face onscreen, but my voice,' he says with a throaty laugh and the raspy voice that he's lent to nearly all of India's best-known actors.

In the grand tradition of Mumbai musicals, none of the actors sings - playback singers cover for them while they lip sync. 'For my first film, Dil Se [From the Heart], I sang for Shahrukh Khan, the 'king of Bollywood',' he says. 'I won my first award for it and, even now, six years later, it's one of my biggest hits.'

Born and raised in India, fortysomething Singh was working in London in the early 1990s when he released his first album, Munda Southall Da [Boy from Southall], a Bhangra-pop jig. But his big break came when he returned to India and started working with one of the country's leading composers, A.R. Rahman.

'I was in Chennai when a friend introduced us,' Singh says. 'I introduced him to northern folk poetry and he liked it so much that he wanted to incorporate it in a film album. Initially, I sang just an introduction - then I sang a full song. The rest is history. I've lost count of how many songs I've sung for him over the years.'

That first song, Chal Chaiyaan Chaiyaan, topped the Indian charts for 18 weeks and the singer, composer and lyricist walked away with almost every musical award in India in 1998.