She recorded songs in more than 30 languages and lent her voice to over 1,000 films, changing the face of Bollywood and making her voice a part of India’s story. On February 6, Lata Mangeshkar, nicknamed “the nightingale of Bollywood”, died at the age of 92. She was hospitalised on January 11 after contracting Covid-19 and died of multiple organ failure at the Breach Candy hospital in Mumbai. Her death has impacted people across the whole of India, with two days of national mourning being declared. As India is united in sadness over her loss, we’re also remembering her legacy to provide some solace through this dark time. Here’s a glimpse at her life’s journey … Inside Bollywood superstar Salman Khan’s crazy, rich Indian life She was born into music The Bollywood icon was born in Indore, on September 28, 1929. Her father was a singer, theatre actor and producer of musicals. She was never formally educated, with a maid teaching her the Marathi alphabet and a priest teaching her Sanskrit. Singing was her true passion and, in the book Lata Mangeshkar in Her Own Voice by Nasreen Munni Kabir, she spoke about the bond she shared with her father, detailing how he motivated her when she was learning how to sing as a child. She said she used to make excuses not to train her voice and eventually told her father she felt shy to sing in front of him. He told her a father is like a guru and her goal was to sing better than her guru, motivating her to push on and continue singing. How Mukesh and Nita Ambani splurged on grandson Prithvi’s first birthday party Hitting the Bollywood big time Mangeshkar moved to Mumbai and scored a few minor acting roles in the 1940s. But it was never something she enjoyed, reports BBC. She said she was told by one director to get her “eyebrows trimmed” and she always felt uncomfortable being ordered about. In 1949, she got to sing her first full song in the film Mahal. It was the start of Bollywood’s golden age, and she soon cemented her place in the lucrative industry. One of her stand-out moments came when she sang Aye Mere Watan Ke Logon (O, People of My Land), a tribute to the Indian soldiers who died during the war with China in 1962. A pivotal moment was when India’s prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was filmed tearing up during her rendition. The song was so impactful it became a symbol of Indian nationalism and, despite the losses of the war, brought a broken country together. Now, her unmatched decades-long legacy is that of a playback singer, her voice providing the songs for generations of Bollywood stars to lip-synch to. Inside Indian billionaire Natasha Poonawalla’s A-list circle of friends A simple life Despite her fame, the singer kept to herself and lived a simple life. BBC reports she had nine dogs and was a big cricket fan. During recordings, she was known to take breaks to watch test matches. She also enjoyed cooking and taking pictures. More surprisingly, she admitted to loving to play the slot machines when she visited Las Vegas. She said during an interview that she didn’t enjoy roulette or card games, but loved the slots and when travelling to the US would often gamble until the early hours of the morning. Her fame meant little to her The Washington Post reports the singer was often referred to as “Devi”, the term used for a goddess. She was so revered that when people met her, they would bend down and touch her feet, an action of ultimate respect in India. Yet the singer said her success was only because of her fans. 6 secrets from Isha Ambani’s US$100 million wedding In an interview published in The Washington Post in 1995, she said, “I don’t consider myself a big person, really. The public has had the most influence on what I am today, what my name means to people today.” Want more stories like this? Follow STYLE on Facebook , Instagram , YouTube and Twitter .