Jagjit Singh was born on February 8, 1941 in Ganganagar (also called “SriGanganager"), Rajasthan, India. he is among the foremost singers of ghazals in Hindi/Urdu and Punjabi, a composer and a playback singer in Bollywood.
His father Sardar Amar Singh Dhiman, employed with the Government of India, hailed from Dalla village in Ropar district of Punjab and his mother Sardarni Bachchan Kaur came from a deeply religious Sikh family of Ottallan village near Samralla. His siblings include four sisters and two brothers and he is fondly called Jeet by his family members.
He arrived in Mumbai (then Bombay) in 1965 in search of better opportunities as a career musician and singer. His early struggle in the music industry, though not too harsh by his own account, still had its share of trials and tribulations. He lived as a paying guest and his earlier assignments were singing advertisement jingles or performing at weddings and parties.
In 1967 he met Chitra, also a singer, while doing jingles. After a two year long courtship they got married in 1969. They epitomise the first successful husband-wife singing team. Jagjit Singh, with Chitra, has contributed immensely towards changing the course of this genre of music known as ‘Ghazal’ making it more ear friendly, melodic and enojoyable by a wider audience.
In 2003, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India’s highest award for performing arts.